If someone was trying to broke into your car and you shot him and then his dead, are you going to jail?

lil_hottie

not unless it was self defense

Lindy357

Yep. You will go to jail.

sexxymexxy926

You cannot justify deadly force to protect your property. Your life needs to be in imminent danger.

notyours

in texas if it is night(dark) then you have a better chance of getting off.

Greg Hegler

With law the answer is "Depends"...in this case the force sounds excessive and jail maybe the direction you will head in.

Why, did this happen to you? Did you empty the whole magazine? The answer depends on a few things. Was there a life-threatening reason for you to shoot the person? How many shots? Did you shoot with the intent to kill or maim? How was the firearm concealed? Technically, you could go to jail. Some jurisdictions have specific laws about shootings. Best bet is to find out from your local law enforcement agency.

Yes. The owner of the car could have called the Police and given the description of the suspect.
The suspect was not hurting anyone, so your not justified to shoot and kill.

fr_chuck

Normally yes, since in most areas you can not use deadly force to merely protect property if your life is not threatened.

jackson

Pretty sure you will go to jail for something. Use of deadly force is generally considered acceptable only in defense. When you have an immediate and imminent threat to your person or another human being. Your car being broken into would not qualify because you don't have a threat to your life. People have shot people breaking into their house and still gotten into trouble. Plus the family of the criminal could turn around and sue you in civil court even if the criminal courts clear you. This is what happened to OJ Simpson.

robert_dod

Not if they do not catch you. Remember ... anything you say can be used against you. If caught, self defense is weak, as deadly force is not available to protect property. So, my guess is, you were in fear for your life when he broke into the car, and THAT's why you shot him.

bostonianinmo

You betcha! That's murder, pure and simple!

Mr. PhD

That would be up to the jury. You can not use deadly force to protect property, only to protect life. If you were not in the vehicle at the time of the crime, then you are probably in trouble. If you were being carjacked at the time, you could use that as a defense (again, up to the judge to allow the defense and the jury to decide on the facts of the case). Of course in states like California where no one is allowed to have a gun unless you are a cop or criminal (just kidding), you would have to show why you had a loaded gun in your vehicle.

evilprincess

yes. you would be going to jail for murder.

HUSTLER

if your black yes. if your white and the guy was black you might get a medal

))-->rOXY

ummm let me think.... YEAH u really did'nt know????

Joni B

I'm guessing you'll be seeing stripes for awhile.

Matt

If all they were doing was trying to steal your car and you shot them, then yes. In a case of self sefense you would have to prove that lethal force was the minimum amount of force needed to defend yourself.

meridian

was he any threat to your life? if he is, then it's self-defense, but if it's not then you might go to court, but jury might acquitt you.

nick c

Only if you can't prove to that it was self defense.

Amreeki

nope. well it depends, ya shot him for self-defence. that will guarantee you freedom. but if ya shot him with an unlicensed or stolen firearm then that's against the law not the shooting but the use of a firearm that's not yours. why? who did ya shoot?

bgrt

It Depends if you're in your car and someone tries to open your door or punches your window to try to gain entry into your vehicle to do you harm you can shoot and kill them. when you're in your car its like being in your house and someone's trying to break in. Now if you're outside your car and see someone breaking into you car you can't kill them unless they threaten to kill you and he has a weapon and is advancing on you. If he verbally threatened to kill you and has no weapon you cant kill him.

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