You Can Use Deadly Force to Stop a Felony in Idaho

You wake up one morning and look out the window and see a guy attempting to steal your car.  Can you shoot him?  If you believe it’s obvious he’s stealing your ride, the answer is yes!  Do you want to shoot the thief?  That’s another matter.  You may believe taking a life over an item that can be replaced is something you can’t carry on your conscience.

If you wake up in the middle of the night and see someone walking toward your family’s bedrooms, can you shoot them?  If you believe they’re in the commission of a felony, you can open fire.  If it turns out it was a neighbor with dementia, that’s unfortunate, but you were legally justified.

There’s some confusion in Idaho about when you can use deadly force.  Mainly because the changes are relatively recent and in some cases weren’t highly publicized.

If two weeks pass and you see the fellow who stole your car, you can’t shoot him.  Your justification has passed.

This is important as a lot of people are asking what laws would govern a shooting like the one we learned about in Houston, Texas a couple of weeks ago.  If you weren’t aware of what happened, then learn more by clicking here.  A man was robbing customers at a restaurant when he was shot by a patron.  It stopped the crime and the commission of a felony, however.  The vigilante then took the robber’s gun away and then shot the thief once more in the noggin.  His intent changed before the final shot, and now the defender has committed a crime.

To repeat something I said earlier, you can use force to stop a felony in progress.  You still need to live with your conscience.  Balance that against the value of your car and also realize, you could still have legal costs.

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