SALT LAKE CITY – Police are reviewing the circumstances behind two suspected home-invasion shootings in the Salt Lake Valley over the weekend.
But it happens that legal standards for shooting home intruders are low.
“The protection that a homeowner has in defending a home is about as great as it is anywhere else,” KSL legal analyst Greg Skordas said.
“We really say a person’s home is his castle in America and certainly in Utah.”
On Friday, a West Jordan man shot and killed a woman police say broke into his home’s garage.
On Sunday, a South Salt Lake man shot and wounded another man police say broke into his apartment.
Skordas defined what is unreasonable when it comes to home defense.
“A person will have an unexpected guest in a home, where the husband came home early, or one of the children has come home, and they’ll think it’s an intruder and use force,” he said.
Skordas reports a much higher legal standard for self-defense, especially with deadly force, in public situations.