Booby traps for burglars? Not so fast.
You can be civilly and criminally liable for injuries caused by traps, even to trespassers.
Christmas is the season of giving. With all of the presents, money and holiday travel, it can also be the season for taking. Two holiday classics, Home Alone and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, are about burglaries.
I thought about Home Alone earlier in the week when I carried some Amazon packages to the basement so that they can stay out of the way until they could be wrapped and brought back up—I mean down the chimney. There were also some paint cans down there. I immediately thought of their home defense utility. We already have a security system. My wife and I also have an almost fourteen month-old daughter who herself has a lot of toys and books. Attempted burglars might look at our living room, think another crew already hit the place, and move on.
Kevin McAllister was left all alone to defend his home against the Wet Bandits. (An earlier draft of Home Alone had the film set in Texas but it was scrapped because there was no snow and the climax was rather anticlimatic because as soon as Harry and Marv showed up, Kevin shot them.)
After surviving to a hot door handle, paint cans to the face, being burned by a torch and falling multiple stories, the Wet Bandits are arrested. Had they been more seriously injured or killed, could Kevin have been held liable?
Force, even deadly force, can be justified in the defense of oneself or others (specific laws vary by state and are always fact-dependent). While reasonable force can be justified in the defense of personal property, deadly force typically is not. In certain situations, deadly force can be justified in the defense of one’s home or premises. Connecticut law for instance provides that
A person in possession or control of premises, or a person who is licensed or privileged to be in or upon such premises, is justified in using reasonable physical force upon another person when and to the extent that he reasonably believes such to be necessary to prevent or terminate the commission or attempted commission of a criminal trespass by such other person in or upon such premises; but he may use deadly physical force under such circumstances only (1) in defense of a person as prescribed in section 53a-19, or (2) when he reasonably believes such to be necessary to prevent an attempt by the trespasser to commit arson or any crime of violence, or (3) to the extent that he reasonably believes such to be necessary to prevent or terminate an unlawful entry by force into his dwelling as defined in section 53a-100, or place of work, and for the sole purpose of such prevention or termination.
Again, very fact-sensitive. Couldn’t traps fall within the statute? Probably not. Courts have held that deadly traps, most notably “spring guns,” which are guns rigged to automatically fire upon an entrant, by law constitute unreasonable force because they do not have the discretion of a human. A trap could be tripped and injure emergency personnel or other innocent persons. In a famous case in Iowa in the 1970’s, a couple was held civilly liable when a trespasser was shot by a spring-loaded shotgun that they had placed in an unoccupied house that they owned. In California, a man was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon when he set up a spring gun in his garage and a burglar was shot in the face. I have not found any cases about traps involving blow torches or charcoal lighters.
An actual security system is likely to safer, more effective and legal than booby traps. Instead of sounding an alarm, my security system plays clips from 1930’s gangster movies. It causes the porch pirates to run. I do however have to pick up my pizzas.
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