Reply #41: Depends on the circumstances, but often no... [View All]

if someone is in your house illegally, he/she has no legal standing for self-defense; they are the aggressor in that scenario.

Practically speaking, though, the homeowner will be guilty until proven innocent, and the officer doing the shooting innocent until proven guilty, simply by the way the deck (finances, legal counsel, credibility with the media and the courts) is stacked. Look at the Kathryn Johnston case, for example; had the police informant not come forward and blown the whistle on the situation, the lawbreakers in that case would have gone unpunished.

That type of scenario is PRECISELY why the FBI used to warn against no-knock or yell-as-you-enter raids, because of the likelihood that such raids, if mistaken, will create a scenario in which law-abiding homeowners and police will, in good faith, end up in a gunfight. Unfortunately, the War on Non-Approved Herbs has driven a more militaristic, confrontational approach to serving routine warrants, as in this case, the Johnston case, the Cory Maye case, etc. etc.