Legal Disclaimer
I am not a lawyer. I don’t even play on TV. I cannot give you legal advice on castle doctrine florida.
The legal information provided in this post is based upon information provided by Ryan Katz of Katz and Phillips. PA, in his ‘Are You Protected by the Castle Doctrine Outside on Your Property?” post.
Out Scenario
Let’s look at a possible scenario.
You are watching TV in your family room. There is a noise at your front door.
Approaching the door, you see a suspicious person at your front door. Before you can challenge the man, he walks away.
The man walked to the back of the home, where he entered the screened back patio and got in the pool.
You tell your spouse to call 911. With your home defense firearm in hand, you confront the suspect through the closed door. Laughing at you, the suspect tries to force open the doors to the home.
Before the suspect could gain entry, the police arrived and placed the intruder under arrest.
What were the homeowner’s rights in this situation? What kind of force could he have used? Would he have benefitted from the Castle Doctrine?
Use of Non-Deadly Force Outside of the House
Under Florida Statute § 776.031, “a person is justified in using or threatening to use force, except deadly force” to terminate a trespass on their real property other than a dwelling or personal property.
In the scenario above, the intruder clearly attempted to get into the homeowner’s dwelling.
Before he reached the front door, the intruder would have just been in the front yard. At this point, assuming the front yard is not fully fenced in, the homeowner would have had the right to remove the trespasser using non-deadly force ONLY.
Castle Doctrine Outside - Use of Deadly Force on the Patio
The Florida statute above states that deadly force may not be used to terminate a trespass on property. However, the use of deadly force changes once an intruder has broken into the dwelling.
According to Florida’s Castle Doctrine Statute (Florida Statute 776.013), a dwelling is “a building or conveyance of any kind, including any attached porch, whether the building or conveyance is temporary or permanent, mobile or immobile, which has a roof over it, including a tent, and is designed to be occupied by people lodging therein at night.”
In our scenario, the screened in patio would certainly qualify as a dwelling under this statute. This means that the homeowner had the right to use of threaten to use deadly force against the intruder.
It is even more apparent that the homeowner could use or threaten deadly force when the intruder attempted to get into the home through the back door.
Application of the Castle Doctrine Outside – Use of Force Inside a Fenced in Yard
Florida case law suggests that a fenced in yard may be protected by the Castle Doctrine. See State v. Vino, State v. Vino, 100 So. 3d 716 (Fla. 3d DCA 2012).
This means that a person may be entitled to use deadly force in situations where a trespasser has climbed over or forcibly broken a fence to gain access to a person’s yard.
However, these cases were not decided on this exact issue, which means there is no official ruling as to whether or not a fenced in yard triggers the Castle Doctrine.
For now, we can only say that there is a strong argument that the Castle Doctrine applies. It would require a judge to rule on the issue as a matter of law to provide a definitive answer.
One other time a person may use deadly force is when they are seeking to prevent a forcible felony. One such felony is burglary.
Resources
As indicated in the legal disclaimer, I am not a lawyer. For detailed information on this and many others, check out the blogs on thefirearmfirm.com.
