Bill Text: HI SB347 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Justification; Use of Force
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [SB347 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-SB347-Introduced.html
Report Title:
Justification; Use of Force
Description:
Amends chapter 703, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to remove the requirement of retreating or surrendering possession of a thing before the use of force is a justifiable defense.
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
347 |
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TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO JUSTIFIABLE USE OF FORCE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Section 703-304, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§703-304 Use of force in self-protection. (1) Subject to the provisions of this section and of section 703-308, the use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by the other person on the present occasion.
(2) The use of deadly force is justifiable under this section if the actor believes that deadly force is necessary to protect himself against death, serious bodily injury, kidnapping, rape, or forcible sodomy.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (4) and (5) of this section, a person employing protective force may estimate the necessity thereof under the circumstances as he believes them to be when the force is used without retreating, surrendering possession, doing any other act which he has no legal duty to do, or abstaining from any lawful action.
(4) The use of force is not justifiable under this section:
(a) To resist an arrest which the actor knows is being made by a law enforcement officer, although the arrest is unlawful; or
(b) To resist force used by the occupier or possessor of property or by another person on his behalf, where the actor knows that the person using the force is doing so under a claim of right to protect the property, except that this limitation shall not apply if:
(i) The actor is a public officer acting in the performance of his duties or a person lawfully assisting him therein or a person making or assisting in a lawful arrest; or
(ii) The actor believes that such force is necessary to protect himself against death or serious bodily injury.
(5) The use of deadly force is not justifiable
under this section if[:
(a) The] the actor, with the
intent of causing death or serious bodily injury, provoked the use of force
against himself in the same encounter[; or].
[(b) The actor knows that he can avoid the
necessity of using such force with complete safety by retreating or by
surrendering possession of a thing to a person asserting a claim of right
thereto or by complying with a demand that he abstain from any action which he
has no duty to take, except that:
(i) The actor is not obliged to
retreat from his dwelling or place of work, unless he was the initial aggressor
or is assailed in his place of work by another person whose place of work the
actor knows it to be; and
(ii) A public officer justified in
using force in the performance of his duties, or a person justified in using
force in his assistance or a person justified in using force in making an
arrest or preventing an escape, is not obliged to desist from efforts to
perform his duty, effect the arrest, or prevent the escape because of
resistance or threatened resistance by or on behalf of the person against whom
the action is directed.]
(6) The justification afforded by this section extends to the use of confinement as protective force only if the actor takes all reasonable measures to terminate the confinement as soon as he knows that he safely can, unless the person confined has been arrested on a charge of crime."
SECTION 2. Section 703-305, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"§703-305 Use of force for the
protection of other persons. [(1)] Subject to the provisions of
this section and of section 703-310, the use of force upon or toward the person
of another is justifiable to protect a third person when:
[(a)] (1) Under the circumstances as the
actor believes them to be, the person whom the actor seeks to protect would be
justified in using such protective force; and
[(b)] (2) The actor believes that the
actor's intervention is necessary for the protection of the other person.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1):
(a) When the actor would be obliged under
section 703-304 to retreat, to surrender the possession of a thing, or to
comply with a demand before using force in self- protection, the actor is not
obliged to do so before using force for the protection of another person,
unless the actor knows that the actor can thereby secure the complete safety of
such other person; and
(b) When the person whom the actor seeks to
protect would be obliged under section 703-304 to retreat, to surrender the
possession of a thing or to comply with a demand if the person knew that the
person could obtain complete safety by so doing, the actor is obliged to try to
cause the person to do so before using force in the person's protection if the
actor knows that the actor can obtain the other's complete safety in that way;
and
(c) Neither the actor nor the person whom
the actor seeks to protect is obliged to retreat when in the other's dwelling
or place of work to any greater extent than in the actor's or the person's own.]"
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceeding that were begun, before its effective date.
SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
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INTRODUCED BY: |
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