Bill Text: IA SF255 | 2013-2014 | 85th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act modifying the conditions of the use of justifiable reasonable force and providing a remedy.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 9-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-01-22 - Subcommittee reassigned, Hogg, Dvorsky, and Schneider. S.J. 96. [SF255 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2013-SF255-Introduced.html

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Senate File 255 - Introduced
SENATE FILE 255
BY SORENSON , FEENSTRA ,
SEGEBART , SINCLAIR ,
ANDERSON , CHELGREN , SMITH ,
ERNST , and BEHN
A BILL FOR
An Act modifying the conditions of the use of justifiable
reasonable force and providing a remedy.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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Section 1. Section 704.1, Code 2013, is amended to read as
follows:
704.1 Reasonable force.
1. “Reasonable force” is means that force and no more which
a reasonable person, in like circumstances, would judge to
be necessary to prevent an injury or loss and can include
deadly force if it is reasonable to believe that such force is
necessary to avoid injury or risk to one’s life or safety or
the life or safety of another, or it is reasonable to believe
that such force is necessary to resist a like force or threat.
2. Reasonable force, including deadly force, may be used
even if an alternative course of action is available if the
alternative entails a risk to life or safety, or the life or
safety of a third party , or requires one to abandon or retreat
from one’s dwelling or place of business or employment .
3. A person may be wrong in the estimation of the danger or
the force necessary to repel the danger as long as there is a
reasonable basis for the belief of the person and the person
acts reasonably in the response to that belief.
4. A person who is not engaged in illegal activity has no
duty to retreat from any place where the person is lawfully
present before using force as specified in this chapter.
A finder of fact shall not be permitted to consider the
possibility of retreat as a factor in determining whether or
not a person who used force reasonably believed that the force
was necessary to prevent injury, loss, or risk to life or
safety.
Sec. 2. Section 704.2, Code 2013, is amended by adding the
following new unnumbered paragraph:
NEW UNNUMBERED PARAGRAPH . A threat to cause serious injury
or death, by the production, display, or brandishing of a
deadly weapon, is not deadly force, as long as the actions of
the person are limited to creating an expectation that the
person may use deadly force to defend oneself, another, or as
otherwise authorized by law.
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Sec. 3. NEW SECTION . 704.2A Justifiable use of deadly
force.
1. For purposes of this chapter, a person is presumed to
reasonably believe that deadly force is necessary to avoid
injury or risk to one’s life or safety or the life or safety of
another in either of the following circumstances:
a. The person against whom force is used, at the time the
force is used, is doing any of the following:
(1) Unlawfully entering by force or stealth, or has
unlawfully entered by force or stealth and remains within the
dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle
of the person using force.
(2) Unlawfully removing or is attempting to unlawfully
remove another person against the other person’s will from the
dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle
of the person using force.
b. The person using force knows or has reason to believe
that any of the conditions set forth in paragraph “a” are
occurring or have occurred.
2. The presumption set forth in subsection 1 does not
apply if, at the time force is used, any of the following
circumstances are present:
a. The person using defensive force is engaged in a
criminal offense, is attempting to escape from the scene of a
criminal offense that the person has committed, or is using the
dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle
to further a criminal offense.
b. The person sought to be removed is a child or grandchild
or is otherwise in the lawful custody or under the lawful
guardianship of the person against whom force is used.
c. The person against whom force is used is a peace officer
who has entered or is attempting to enter a dwelling, place
of business or employment, or occupied vehicle in the lawful
performance of the peace officer’s official duties, and the
person using force knows or reasonably should know that the
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S.F. 255
person who has entered or is attempting to enter is a peace
officer.
d. The person against whom the force is used has the right
to be in, or is a lawful resident of, the dwelling, place of
business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using
force, and a protective or no-contact order is not in effect
against the person against whom the force is used.
Sec. 4. Section 704.3, Code 2013, is amended to read as
follows:
704.3 Defense of self or another.
A person is justified in the use of reasonable force when
the person reasonably believes that such force is necessary to
defend oneself or another from any actual or imminent use of
unlawful force.
Sec. 5. NEW SECTION . 704.4A Immunity for justifiable use of
force.
1. As used in this section, “criminal prosecution” means
arrest, detention, charging, or prosecution.
2. A person who uses reasonable force pursuant to this
chapter shall be immune from any criminal prosecution or civil
action for using such force.
3. A law enforcement agency may use standard investigating
procedures for investigating the use of force, but the law
enforcement agency shall not arrest a person for using force
unless the law enforcement agency determines there is probable
cause that the force was unlawful under this chapter.
4. The court shall award reasonable attorney fees, court
costs, compensation for loss of income, and all expenses
incurred by the defendant in defense of any civil action
brought by the plaintiff if the court finds that the defendant
is immune from prosecution as provided in subsection 2.
Sec. 6. Section 704.7, Code 2013, is amended to read as
follows:
704.7 Resisting forcible violent felony.
1. As used in this section, “violent felony” means any
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felonious sexual abuse involving compulsion or the use of a
weapon or any felonious assault, murder, kidnapping, robbery,
arson, or burglary.
2. A person who knows reasonably believes that a forcible
violent felony is being or will imminently be perpetrated is
justified in using , against the perpetrator, reasonable force,
including deadly force , against the perpetrator or perpetrators
to prevent the completion of or terminate the perpetration of
that felony.
Sec. 7. REPEAL. Section 707.6, Code 2013, is repealed.
EXPLANATION
Current law provides that a person may use reasonable force,
including deadly force, even if an alternative course of action
is available if the alternative entails a risk of life or
safety, or the life or safety of a third party, or requires one
to abandon or retreat from one’s residence or place of business
or employment.
This bill provides that a person may use reasonable force,
including deadly force, if it is reasonable to believe such
force is necessary to avoid injury or risk to one’s life or
safety or the life or safety of another, even if an alternative
course of action is available if the alternative entails a risk
to life or safety, or the life or safety of a third party.
The bill provides that a person may be wrong in the
estimation of the danger or the force necessary to repel the
danger as long as there is a reasonable basis for the belief
and the person acts reasonably in the response to that belief.
The bill further provides that a person who is not engaged in
an illegal activity has no duty to retreat from any place where
the person is lawfully present before using force. The bill
prohibits a finder of fact from considering the possibility of
retreat as a factor in determining whether or not a person who
used force reasonably believed that the force was necessary to
prevent injury, loss, or risk to life or safety.
The bill provides that a threat to cause serious injury
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or death by the production, display, or brandishing of a
deadly weapon, is not deadly force, as long as the actions of
the person are limited to creating an expectation that the
person may use deadly force to defend oneself, another, or as
otherwise authorized by law.
The bill creates presumptions for the justifiable use of
deadly force in certain circumstances.
Under the bill, a person is presumed to be justified in
using deadly force if the person reasonably believes that
deadly force is necessary to avoid injury or risk to one’s
life or safety or the life or safety of another under the
following circumstances: the person against whom force is used
is unlawfully entering by force or stealth, or has unlawfully
entered by force or stealth and remains within a dwelling,
place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the
person using force; or the person against whom force is used
is unlawfully removing or attempting to remove another person
against the other person’s will from a dwelling, place of
business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using
force. In addition, the person using force must know or have
reason to believe that the aforementioned circumstances are
occurring or have occurred.
The presumption of the use of justifiable deadly force
under the bill does not apply at the time force is used in the
following circumstances: the person using defensive force is
engaged in a criminal offense or activity; the person sought
to be removed is a child or grandchild or is otherwise in the
lawful custody of the person against whom force is used; the
person against whom force is used is a peace officer who has
entered or is attempting to enter a dwelling, place of business
or employment, or occupied vehicle in the lawful performance
of the peace officer’s official duties, and the person using
force knows or reasonably should know that the person who has
entered or is attempting to enter is a peace officer; or the
person against whom force is used has the right to be in, or
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S.F. 255
is a lawful resident of, the dwelling, place of business or
employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using force, and
a protective or no-contact order is not in effect against the
person against whom the force is used.
The bill provides that a person is justified in the use of
reasonable force when the person reasonably believes that such
force is necessary to defend oneself or another from any actual
as well as imminent use of unlawful force.
The bill also provides that a person who uses reasonable
force shall be immune from any criminal prosecution or civil
action for using such force.
Under the bill, a law enforcement agency shall not arrest a
person for using force unless it determines there is probable
cause that the force was unlawful under Code chapter 704.
The bill also provides that if a defendant is sued by a
plaintiff for using reasonable force, the court shall award the
defendant reasonable attorney fees, court costs, compensation
for loss of income, and other damages if the court finds the
defendant is immune from prosecution.
The bill also provides that a person who reasonably
believes that a violent felony is being or will imminently be
perpetrated is justified in using reasonable force, including
deadly force, against a perpetrator to prevent or terminate the
perpetration of that felony. The bill defines “violent felony”
to mean any felonious assault, murder, violent or forced sexual
abuse, kidnapping, robbery, arson, or burglary.
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