# Intruder injured by boobytrap in home invasion, homeowner arrested. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 13, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850 "2005-11-13T15:31:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/1 "2005-11-13T15:31:21Z")
[http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=22710&cat=HOME](http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=22710&cat=HOME) My god, the man even put up a sign warning of possible injury to intruders I guess he should have just killed the guy. Whats the point of even trying to keep your home safe from burglars when shit like this happens. Oh well, I’m sure the “victim” will win an assload of money in a civil trial so I guess his attempted robbery will be successful anyway. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/2 "2005-11-13T15:37:48Z")
It’s against the law to booby trap your house? I can imagine if the person shot was a UPS deliveryman, or the pizza delivery guy, someone you “invited” to your house, but what’s wrong with protecting your house against a burglar? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/3 "2005-11-13T15:38:09Z")
Well… I’ve never heard of a state where booby traps were legal. By installing a booby trap, the man violated the law. Since the trap was triggered, the man committed assault with a deadly weapon with malice aforethought. And the sign doesn’t actually say ‘WARNING! This door is rigged with a shotgun booby trap. If you open it, you will probably die!’ It was more along the lines of, ‘If you break in, it’s your fault if you slip on the floor.’ ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/4 "2005-11-13T15:38:13Z")
: Claps hands to side of face : AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/5 "2005-11-13T15:39:51Z")
While I agree that you have every right to defend your home. This kind of shit is just a very, very bad idea. Might as well mine the yard as well. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/6 "2005-11-13T15:41:24Z")
> [@](#): > > And the sign doesn’t actually say 'WARNING! Oh “break in at your own risk” is too difficult to understand? Yeah I can see how that kind of statement would be confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/7 "2005-11-13T15:42:09Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Might as well mine the yard as well. That’s the first thing I thought of. I read a book where a guy had a sign on the road to his house: ‘PRIVATE ROAD MINED’. I don’t remember whether it was, but I do remember that he explained it away as ‘private road, mind’ and he just misspelled it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/8 "2005-11-13T15:43:42Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Oh “break in at your own risk” is too difficult to understand? > > Yeah I can see how that kind of statement would be confusing. Carnival rides often have signs that say ‘ride at your own risk’. They don’t say, ‘Beware the rotating knives!’ ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/9 "2005-11-13T15:48:27Z")
I think there is a slight difference between paying money to go on a ride that may have some potentially dangerous occurences and breaking into a person’s home who has even gone to the trouble putting up a warning sign which they shouldn’t of even had to do in the first place because the asshole shouldn’t have broken in. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/10 "2005-11-13T15:50:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Carnival rides often have signs that say ‘ride at your own risk’. They don’t say, ‘Beware the rotating knives!’ Is there any similarity to legally going on an amusement park ride and breaking into someone’s home? That is a pretty weak analogy. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/11 "2005-11-13T15:52:39Z")
All booby traps are massively illegal for the very simple reason that they work without human guidance. What if it was a fireman coming through the door? Or an EMT? Or a child? Booby traps are, and by all rights should be illegal and banned. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/12 "2005-11-13T15:57:57Z")
I agree with you that boobytraps should be illegal as they don’t discriminate I just think it sucks that the homeowner is going to be really get screwed over multiple times for just being a victim and he will probably be held accountable for the guys injuries in a court of law, which legally he has to be it just sucks that he has to get kicked while hes down. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/13 "2005-11-13T15:59:21Z")
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had stuff stolen from me a few times. I’ve wished I had a cyanide gas canister in my car that would eliminate the thief. I totally sympathise with people who want to set up booby traps. But it’s against the law. ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right’ and all that. But the underlying thought is this: ‘I’m going to _kill_ someone who tries to take my property!’ Most people will say, ‘Is a thing worth a person’s life?’ I tend to turn it around. I think a thief should ask himself, ‘Is whatever I want to steal worth _my_ life?’ Thieves have to take their chances, as far as I’m concerned. But I still think it’s wrong set up a deadly trap to protect propoerty. There are other solutions. For example, the shop owner could have requested more police patrols. He could have staked out his place and sat there with a shotgun himself. He could have improved the physical security of his shop. But instead he set up a trap designed to kill. I have a key to the studio. There’s a lot of expensive gear in there, and I could creep in whenever no one is there. But I wouldn’t, of course. However I _might_ go in to drop off some equipment, to get a piece of equipment, to use the computer. I could go in for a number of legitimate reasons. Suppose they put up a trap and forgot to tell me? I’d be an innocent victim. Booby traps do not discriminate. That’s why they’re illegal. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/14 "2005-11-13T15:59:36Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > It’s against the law to booby trap your house? Yep. Spring guns have been illegal since the founding (we imported the law from England), and they continue to be illegal. Because the spring gun cannot distinguish between the burglar and the UPS guy (i.e., people legitimately there and not legitimately there), they are illegal: > [@People v. Ceballos](#): > > Allowing persons, at their own risk, to employ deadly mechanical devices imperils the lives of children, firemen and policemen acting within the scope of their employment, and others. Where the actor is present, there is always the possibility he will realize that deadly force is not necessary, but deadly mechanical devices are without mercy or discretion. Such devices “are silent instrumentalities of death. They deal death and destruction to the innocent as well as the criminal intruder without the slightest warning. The taking of human life [or infliction of great bodily injury] by such means is brutally savage and inhuman.” (See State v. Plumlee, supra, 149 So. 425, 430.) The bestest modern American spring gun case is _[Katko v. Briney](http://www.law.mq.edu.au/Units/law405/Study_Guide/Katko_v_Briney/katko_v_briney.htm)_. Katko broke into Briney’s farmhouse. Because the farmhouse was isolated and Briney had had several problems with breakins before, Briney had rigged up a spring gun. When Katko broke in, the spring gun shot him in the leg. Katko (the burglar) sued Briney (the homeowner) and won. A [blog](http://www.newsaic.com/mled.html) about the case notes that Katko won $30,000 for the injury (as the author says,a huge amount and the McDonald’s coffee case of its day). Briney’s neighbors, outraged, loaned Briney the money to pay Katko so that Briney wouldn’t lose his house. But Briney didn’t pay them back, there was a falling out, and the neighbors sued Briney. Truly, an epic story. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/15 "2005-11-13T16:02:42Z")
I’d forgotten about firemen and other emergency personnel. > [@pool](#): > > I just think it sucks that the homeowner is going to be really get screwed over multiple times for just being a victim… The thing is, when he set up the trap he became a criminal. As little sympathy as I have for thieves, the owner is a criminal. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/16 "2005-11-13T16:04:00Z")
[Is it legal to booby-trap your own property?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=164803) ---
**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/17 "2005-11-13T16:25:32Z")
After reading the linked article, I’m with the cops on this one. There are a lot of scenarios which would have led to that trap being sprung by a fireman, a policeman, an EMT, a family member or a child. Booby traps are a bad idea. Booby traps involving firearms and other deadly options are criminal. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/18 "2005-11-13T16:49:32Z")
There was a case in Indiana awhile back where a guy whose trailer had been repeatedly broken into, set up a booby trap with a shotgun loaded with rock salt. The next burglar was shot and died. The homeowner was found guilty at trial. I don’t remember what the penalty was, but if I sat on such a jury I’d certainly consider a fine or a very stern warning. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/19 "2005-11-13T17:00:37Z")
Booby traps ARE a bad idea, for all the reasons already stated. They don’t distinguish between robbers and dear old Aunt May. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850/20 "2005-11-13T17:03:01Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I don’t remember what the penalty was, but if I sat on such a jury I’d certainly consider a fine or a very stern warning. And if the trap had killed a fireman, or dear old Auntie Agatha? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intruder-injured-by-boobytrap-in-home-invasion-homeowner-arrested/330850.md?page=2)