PRINTER'S NO. 230
No. 181 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY DENT, HELFRICK, GERLACH, WAUGH, ARMSTRONG, COSTA,
STAPLETON, SLOCUM, WOZNIAK, ROBBINS AND RHOADES,
JANUARY 26, 1999
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, JANUARY 26, 1999
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, further providing for use of force to
3 protect property.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Section 507(c)(4) of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania
7 Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
8 § 507. Use of force for the protection of property.
9 * * *
10 (c) Limitations on justifiable use of force.--
11 * * *
12 (4) (i) The use of deadly force is justifiable under
13 this section if:
14 (A) there has been an entry or attempted entry
15 into the actor's dwelling;
16 (B) the actor neither believes nor has reason to
17 believe that the entry or attempted entry is lawful;
18 and
1 (C) the actor neither believes nor has reason to
2 believe that force less than deadly force would be
3 adequate to terminate:
4 (I) the entry or attempted entry into the
5 actor's dwelling; or
6 (II) the presence, by the person against
7 whom force is used, on the actor's property.
8 (ii) If the conditions of justification provided in
9 subparagraph (i) have not been met, the use of deadly
10 force is not justifiable under this section unless the
11 actor believes that:
12 (A) the person against whom the force is used is
13 attempting to dispossess [him] the actor of [his] the
14 actor's dwelling otherwise than under a claim of
15 right to its possession; [or]
16 (B) such force is necessary to prevent the
17 commission of a felony in the dwelling; or
18 (C) such force is necessary to prevent the
19 person against whom the force is used from fleeing
20 immediately after committing a felony on the actor's
21 property.
22 * * *
23 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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