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The Castle Doctrine Can Be Misunderstood and Misused

In this video, we’ll be discussing the Castle Doctrine, which is a law that states that people have the right to protect their home. We’ll be discussing different scenarios where the Castle Doctrine might come into play, and how you should go about protecting your home if you find yourself in a situation where the law applies to you.

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Transcript

Speaker 1
00;00;00;01 – 00;00;01;12
Hi, everyone. David Mann pointed out to me that the Castle
Doctrine is recently in the news again and he asked me to look at a couple
of those cases and have a conversation with him today.
Speaker 2
00;00;15;01 – 00;00;15;18
Well, hi there.
Yes, I sent these
because I thought we’ve talked about the Castle doctrine in other videos.
And in one week in different states
other than Wyoming, we’ve had this come up in the news
where someone was, I think, thinking that
they were going with their state’s version
of the Castle doctrine and actually killed someone in two.
In both of these occasions,
you may have read the news
that other people watching this may read this these news stories.
So I was thinking, is this what is meant by this Castle doctrine?
And I think maybe some clarification
is in order here.
Speaker 1
00;00;50;01 – 00;00;50;28
Sure. Yeah. I looked at what the two instances
that you were talking about.

00;00;54;23 – 00;00;57;18
One of them was on a state
that didn’t have the Castle Doctrine and the other is in a state that does have the Castle doctrine. Wyoming has a Castle Doctrine. And, you know, in looking at the the two cases, one that’s hit the the news or what the
what’s been released to the press. But in my experience. There is always the rest of the story. And we don’t know what that is yet in either one of those cases.
Speaker 2
00;01;32;23 – 00;01;33;19
Right. Right. So what we know basically is in one instance, a car with young woman
started to pull up a driveway and the owner came out and and shot one of them in the car. And on the other one,
a young man was up on the porch of a guy who was an elderly man, and he came out and shot him. So those were two slightly different situations, both of which from,
like you say, what we know, the person approaching the property was mistaking it
for another house and wasn’t inside the house. But as you say, there’s always more
to the story that we’re not hearing.
Speaker 2
00;02;09;07 – 00;02;10;12
So in Wyoming, you know, what is what are the exact rules on this?
I think would be good to clarify.
Speaker 1
00;02;17;26 – 00;02;19;07
Well, in, you know, these two sets of facts, what is going to be important is whether or not the person who was shot was unlawfully and forcibly
or attempting to enter the person’s home. Now, if that’s the set of circumstances where, you know, you Can check those two boxes, then a Wyoming citizen is presumed
to be in fear of death or serious bodily injury
And the law allows the person,then, to meet this intruder with deadly force.

00;02;58;28 – 00;03;00;16
And so. It’s rooted in the castle doctrine
that, you know, your home is your castle.
00;03;04;27 – 00;03;06;26
And when you’re in your castle. You really can’t retreat anywhere else to avoid. the confrontation, and so, you know if this is just a black and white. Case where you have an unknown person that unlawfully
breaking into your house and, you know, you’re saying caught off guard in the middle of the night, you can defend your home, yourself and your family.
Speaker 2
00;03;34;11 – 00;03;36;01
Okay. So as opposed to somebody comes up on your property from a distance that you’ve never heard from and never seen before, probably it’s best to maybe think twice before pulling out a gun on that person because you won’t be protected
by the Castle Doctrine in that case.
Speaker 1
00;03;51;05 – 00;03;52;24
Absolutely. If it’s just, you know, someone approaching your house
and you don’t know the person that doesn’t mean you get to shoot and then ask questions later. No.
Speaker 2
00;04;02;01 – 00;04;07;02
This is why it’s interesting to me
as a storytelling guy for for court; is that the two things we just depicted
clearly crossing the threshold and trying to invade the house versus
way far away at the edge of the property,
those are pretty clear cut. Where the storytelling in the law
and the nuance comes in is when it’s somewhere in between
and it’s not quite as clear as that. And then you need a lawyer, a legal team
to work this out in to to really tell the truth. And that’s where you would come in. Right?
Speaker 1
00;04;34;29 – 00;04;35;14
Right. We’ve handled these type of cases before. It’s highly fact sensitive.

00;04;41;14 – 00;04;45;16
So like I said, there’s always
the rest of the story that the prosecutor isn’t necessarily presenting
when they charge the case.
00;04;48;25 – 00;04;50;15
And so by law, we’re allowed to present that other side to a audge and and potentially get the case dismissed before it ever goes to trial, here in Wyoming.
Speaker 2
00;05;03;02 – 00;05;04;15
And how would they get in touch with you to get this to happen for them
if they need it?
Speaker 1
00;05;06;21 – 00;05;09;10
We will include a link in the description
where they can call, text or chat with a member of my team
any time, day or night.

00;05;14;27 – 00;05;16;12
Here at Just Criminal Law we know you only get one shot at justice.
So make yours count.

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