Defensive Force in the Home

We now have a number of appellate opinions interpreting the defensive force statutes enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2011. In State v. Kuhns, ___ N.C. App. ___ (July 3, 2018), we have our first opinion squarely addressing the provisions of G.S. 14-51.2, which deals with defensive force in a home, workplace, or motor vehicle. This post focuses on the home, where the conflict in Kuhns occurred, but some of the same principles apply to the workplace and motor vehicles. The Statutory Castle Doctrine in G.S. 14-51.2 Initially, I want to point out that I am intentionally using the phrase defensive force in the home instead of defense of home or defense of habitation. Under the North Carolina common law, a person had the right to use deadly force to prevent an unlawful, forcible entry into the home if the occupant reasonably feared death or great bodily injury or reasonably believed that the intruder intended to commit a felony. Under G.S. 14-51.1, enacted in 1994 and repealed in 2011 (when the new defensive force statutes were passed), a person had the right to use deadly force to prevent or terminate an unlawful, forcible entry into the home in the same circumstances. Under both formulations, a person relying on defense of habitation was claiming that he or she was defending against a wrongful entry. New G.S. 14-51.2 continues to require an unlawful, forcible entry as a condition of the right to use deadly force. As under repealed G.S. 14-51.1, the [...]