Is encouraging him to get up off limits too? You know, get up so I can shoot him again.
What about emptying the weapon before he hits the floor. Would five hits be counted as self defense? That's the other option so you don't have to encourage him to get up, make darn sure he is going down and going to stay down.
What about emptying the weapon before he hits the floor. Would five hits be counted as self defense? That's the other option so you don't have to encourage him to get up, make darn sure he is going down and going to stay down.
These are the things that jurys have to decide.
One advantage of a lone dead intruder in your home is the police only get your side of the story. - tom
Personally I'd say it wasn't excessive as long as you have a decent grouping. And you shout "halt!" afterwards.
Seriously, this is a human rights issue, literally - I do not believe there is a human right more basic than that of the defense of one's own life. And the "proportionality" defense generally depends on some clairvoyance on the part of the defender as to the intentions of the attacker. A fellow threatening you with a knife is threatening your life, and the fact that he says he's only interested in your wallet is irrelevant even if true. If he snivels later that you shouldn't have shot him because he wasn't really going to hurt you if you just cooperated that he ought to be laughed out of court and in most sane, civilized places such as Dodge City in the day, he would have been.