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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    26

    Default How Does Self Defense Work in Your Home

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Nevada, Reno.

    Hi, I don't really know if this is the right place foe an inquisitive guy like me, but here goes.

    What are the proper procedures for defending yourself in your own home in Nevada? I.E. do you have to identify yourself, tell them they have to leave, tell them you have a weapon, etc? If someone I don't know enters my home and I never told them they could, and simply discovered them on my property(in home, not lawn) then can I engage in combat? Is that considered self defense, or must he engage in attack first? Do the rules change if he is holding a weapon? I tried looking some of these questions up by reading the state legislature but it looked strangely inadequate in the area of home self defense.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    16,307

    Default Re: How Does Self Defense Work in Your Home

    Assembly Bill 288, which would have authorized the use of deadly force to defend your home from forceful intruders, stalled in the Nevada legislature in April, 2009.

    What this means, essentially, is that if you wake in the middle of the night (or middle of the day) and find someone breaking into your home, you can yell at him to GTFO, beat the hell out of him, and sit on him while you call 911 and wait for the cops to arrive, but you can't kill him.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: How Does Self Defense Work in Your Home

    I would qualify that a bit - if somebody is breaking into your home such that you're in fear for your life or that of your family, you don't need to yell out a warning or wait for the police. As the proposed statute indicates, "Under existing case law, there is no duty to retreat before using deadly force if the person using deadly force is not the aggressor and reasonably believes that he is about to be killed or seriously injured."

    The proposed statute was a "stand your ground" law, basically stating that you don't have the obligation to retreat from a location where you're legally present; but that would have expanded the concept of self-defense to areas where you would otherwise have an obligation to withdraw, if you could safely do so, before resorting to deadly force. Even without the new statute, the case cited in the proposed statute suggests that Nevada imposes a lesser duty to retreat than exists in many other states. Generally speaking, a person who is not the original aggressor has no duty to retreat from his or her own home.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    26

    Default Re: How Does Self Defense Work in Your Home

    Quote Quoting LawResearcherMissy
    View Post
    but you can't kill him.
    I have to look it up again, but I read when I was rifling through the statute that the only legal way to kill a person is if they are trying to kill you, and you kill them while they are fighting you to the end, "Until the final blow" I believe is what is said. Does this still apply in home?

    And as far as not having to identify myself before putting him a choke hold, can at any point he claim self defense?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    16,307

    Default Re: How Does Self Defense Work in Your Home

    Not if he has broken into your home and you genuinely believe he means to do you harm.

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