In an old column, Cecil was asked what would happen if a legally armed citizen killed a police officer or FBI agent when he was in the process of installing an authorized wiretap in said citizen’s house, as the citizen could reasonably assume that this was an ordinary intruder and that he was in his right to blow said intruder away. He said that it hasn’t happened yet, so we don’t know. Still, we’ve got a fine legal mind or two around here. Give it a good guess.
AFAIK, use of deadly force is only justified when the shooter is in danger or reasonably believes he’s in danger, even in the case of an intruder being on his property.
I suppose it would depend a bit on whether the agent/officer was clearly armed, and moreso on whether he/she was in uniform, attempted to present ID, etc.
I don’t know about wiretaps, but in the similar case of “no-knock” warrants–in which police break into the house without warning, typically to carry out a drug raid–what often happens is that the legally armed citizen gets killed.
Check this out:
http://www.cato.org/raidmap/
Tough question. Some states now have castle doctrines when it comes to defending your property. Wikipedia has some good info, including a list of “conditions of use” – Castle doctrine - Wikipedia . Basically it seems like it’d boil down to if the jury believed you reasonably believed you were threatened. If I personally woke up in the middle of the night with strange men in my home, they had better hope they’re better armed than myself…
This is very state dependent. My home state of Louisiana has the most liberal laws pertaining to lethal force in the U.S. Basically, anyone on your property that refuses to retreat can be met with lethal force. This is a strong right as demonstrated by a Japanese foreign exchange student that was shot to death on Halloween in 1992 when he approached the wrong house in a costume and refused to retreat (his English wasn’t perfect). What is also unusual is that you can use lethal force for property protection in Louisiana. The simplistic explanation is that trespassing can be a lethal offense if the trespasser doesn’t respond to orders to retreat and leave.
This can lead to some unusual situations. The owner of a grocery store I worked for in high school walked into his house and found his wife in bed with another man. There were obvious confusion and assaults and the philanderer was shot dead because of it. Because all of this occurred in his own house, my boss had few legal problems and he and his wife stayed together at least the last I heard.
I can easily see how lethal force used against plain clothes law enforcement officials could legally be met with lethal force in Louisiana. The property owner may have no way to differentiate so they can’t be held at fault.
Do I correctly recall a tale or two of criminals dressing up as SWAT?