On Thu, 2008-11-13 at 12:29 -0800, Bob Blick wrote:
> On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:12:38 -0500, "Herbert Graf"
> > FWIW it's generally criminal in many places to do anything that would
> > harm a person remotely, even if they're up to no good (i.e. electrifying
> > a windowsill). 
> 
> Not in Texas. If the perp is on your property (and especially inside
> your house), you can pretty much kill them even if you invited them in.
> 
> But then again the slogan for Texas is "It's a whole 'nother country".

That may be true, but isn't what I was talking about. I mentioned
"remotely". What you describe is more to do with the "I felt my life was
in danger" angle, which many jurisdictions accept as a valid reason for
lethal force (i.e. I thought the guy was going to kill me, so I killed
him first).

What I describe is "lethal force to protect property". One case I read
about a while ago (can't find it right now, perhaps someone here has a
source?) dealt with a store owner that connected a 120V cord to the
inside windowsill of their store. A burglar broke the window, came in
and got electrocuted. I don't remember what exactly happened, whether
the burglar died or not, but I do remember that the shop owner was in
deep "do-do".

There are places where this sort of thing is probably permitted though.

TTYL

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