Posted on: Thursday, September 9, 2004
Particulars of incident crucial when thief is shot
| • | Farmers say slaying linked to thefts of Kahuku crops |
Advertiser staff
Hawai'i law is specific about situations in which the use of deadly force is permitted to protect property.
It says using deadly force to protect property is justifiable only if "... The person against whom the force is used is attempting to commit felonious property damage, burglary, robbery or felonious theft and ... has employed or threatened deadly force against or in the presence of the" person using deadly force.
Virginia Hench, a professor at the University of Hawai'i Richardson School of Law, uses a mango analogy to explain the law.
"If you find someone up in your mango tree stealing mangoes, and order him to stop and he doesn't, you can't just shoot him," Hench said.
"If you order him to stop picking mangoes and he climbs down from the tree and he comes at you with a weapon, you might be justified in shooting him if you believe he is threatening to use deadly force against you."
But shooting someone you believe to have stolen property from you and attempting to get away is not justifiable under Hawai'i law, Hench said.
"That's because we believe in protecting life over property in Hawai'i," Hench said.
The charges that may be brought against the farmer for the Kahuku shooting will likely hinge on what happened during his confrontation, not on the events that led up to it, Hench said.
