Bill Text: IA SF137 | 2015-2016 | 86th General Assembly | Introduced

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

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 23-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-02-04 - Subcommittee, Sodders, Petersen, and Zaun. S.J. 214. [SF137 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2015-SF137-Introduced.html

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Senate File 137 - Introduced




                                 SENATE FILE       
                                 BY  BERTRAND, ANDERSON,
                                     SCHULTZ, SINCLAIR,
                                     COSTELLO, FEENSTRA,
                                     SHIPLEY, KRAAYENBRINK,
                                     CHELGREN, BEHN,
                                     BREITBACH, GARRETT,
                                     SEGEBART, KAPUCIAN,
                                     ZAUN, CHAPMAN,
                                     ROZENBOOM, GUTH, DIX,
                                     ZUMBACH, WHITVER,
                                     SMITH, JOHNSON, and
                                     SCHNEIDER

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the justifiable use of reasonable force and
  2    providing a remedy.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
    TLSB 1342XS (3) 86
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 704.1, Code 2015, is amended to read as
  1  2 follows:
  1  3    704.1  Reasonable force.
  1  4    1.  "Reasonable force" is means that force and no more which
  1  5 a reasonable person, in like circumstances, would judge to
  1  6 be necessary to prevent an injury or loss and can include
  1  7 deadly force if it is reasonable to believe that such force is
  1  8 necessary to avoid injury or risk to one's life or safety or
  1  9 the life or safety of another, or it is reasonable to believe
  1 10 that such force is necessary to resist a like force or threat.
  1 11    2.  Reasonable force, including deadly force, may be used
  1 12 even if an alternative course of action is available if the
  1 13 alternative entails a risk to life or safety, or the life or
  1 14 safety of a third party, or requires one to abandon or retreat
  1 15 from one's dwelling or place of business or employment.
  1 16    3.  A person may be wrong in the estimation of the danger or
  1 17 the force necessary to repel the danger as long as there is a
  1 18 reasonable basis for the belief of the person and the person
  1 19 acts reasonably in the response to that belief.
  1 20    4.  A person who is not engaged in illegal activity has no
  1 21 duty to retreat from any place where the person is lawfully
  1 22 present before using force as specified in this chapter.
  1 23 A finder of fact shall not be permitted to consider the
  1 24 possibility of retreat as a factor in determining whether or
  1 25 not a person who used force reasonably believed that the force
  1 26 was necessary to prevent injury, loss, or risk to life or
  1 27 safety.
  1 28    Sec. 2.  Section 704.2, Code 2015, is amended by adding the
  1 29 following new subsection:
  1 30    NEW SUBSECTION.  1A.  A threat to cause serious injury
  1 31 or death, by the production, display, or brandishing of a
  1 32 deadly weapon, is not deadly force, as long as the actions of
  1 33 the person are limited to creating an expectation that the
  1 34 person may use deadly force to defend oneself, another, or as
  1 35 otherwise authorized by law.
  2  1    Sec. 3.  NEW SECTION.  704.2A  Justifiable use of deadly
  2  2 force.
  2  3    1.  For purposes of this chapter, a person is presumed to
  2  4 reasonably believe that deadly force is necessary to avoid
  2  5 injury or risk to one's life or safety or the life or safety of
  2  6 another in either of the following circumstances:
  2  7    a.  The person against whom force is used, at the time the
  2  8 force is used, is doing any of the following:
  2  9    (1)  Unlawfully entering by force or stealth, or has
  2 10 unlawfully entered by force or stealth and remains within the
  2 11 dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle
  2 12 of the person using force.
  2 13    (2)  Unlawfully removing or is attempting to unlawfully
  2 14 remove another person against the other person's will from the
  2 15 dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle
  2 16 of the person using force.
  2 17    b.  The person using force knows or has reason to believe
  2 18 that any of the conditions set forth in paragraph "a" are
  2 19 occurring or have occurred.
  2 20    2.  The presumption set forth in subsection 1 does not
  2 21 apply if, at the time force is used, any of the following
  2 22 circumstances are present:
  2 23    a.  The person using defensive force is engaged in a
  2 24 criminal offense, is attempting to escape from the scene of a
  2 25 criminal offense that the person has committed, or is using the
  2 26 dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle
  2 27 to further a criminal offense.
  2 28    b.  The person sought to be removed is a child or grandchild
  2 29 or is otherwise in the lawful custody or under the lawful
  2 30 guardianship of the person against whom force is used.
  2 31    c.  The person against whom force is used is a peace officer
  2 32 who has entered or is attempting to enter a dwelling, place
  2 33 of business or employment, or occupied vehicle in the lawful
  2 34 performance of the peace officer's official duties, and the
  2 35 person using force knows or reasonably should know that the
  3  1 person who has entered or is attempting to enter is a peace
  3  2 officer.
  3  3    d.  The person against whom the force is used has the right
  3  4 to be in, or is a lawful resident of, the dwelling, place of
  3  5 business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using
  3  6 force, and a protective or no=contact order is not in effect
  3  7 against the person against whom the force is used.
  3  8    Sec. 4.  Section 704.3, Code 2015, is amended to read as
  3  9 follows:
  3 10    704.3  Defense of self or another.
  3 11    A person is justified in the use of reasonable force when
  3 12 the person reasonably believes that such force is necessary to
  3 13 defend oneself or another from any actual or imminent use of
  3 14 unlawful force.
  3 15    Sec. 5.  NEW SECTION.  704.4A  Immunity for justifiable use of
  3 16 force.
  3 17    1.  As used in this section, "criminal prosecution" means
  3 18 arrest, detention, charging, or prosecution.
  3 19    2.  A person who uses reasonable force pursuant to this
  3 20 chapter shall be immune from any criminal prosecution or civil
  3 21 action for using such force.
  3 22    3.  A law enforcement agency may use standard investigating
  3 23 procedures for investigating the use of force, but the law
  3 24 enforcement agency shall not arrest a person for using force
  3 25 unless the law enforcement agency determines there is probable
  3 26 cause that the force  was unlawful under this chapter.
  3 27    4.  The court shall award reasonable attorney fees, court
  3 28 costs, compensation for loss of income, and all expenses
  3 29 incurred by the defendant in defense of any civil action
  3 30 brought by the plaintiff if the court finds that the defendant
  3 31 is immune from prosecution as provided in subsection 2.
  3 32    Sec. 6.  Section 704.7, Code 2015, is amended to read as
  3 33 follows:
  3 34    704.7  Resisting forcible violent felony.
  3 35    1.  As used in this section, "violent felony" means any
  4  1 felonious sexual abuse involving compulsion or the use of a
  4  2 weapon or any felonious assault, murder, kidnapping, robbery,
  4  3 arson, or burglary.
  4  4    2.  A person who knows reasonably believes that a forcible
  4  5  violent felony is being or will imminently be perpetrated is
  4  6 justified in using, against the perpetrator, reasonable force,
  4  7 including deadly force, against the perpetrator or perpetrators
  4  8  to prevent the completion of or terminate the perpetration of
  4  9  that felony.
  4 10    Sec. 7.  REPEAL.  Section 707.6, Code 2015, is repealed.
  4 11                           EXPLANATION
  4 12 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  4 13 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  4 14    Current law provides that a person may use reasonable  force,
  4 15 including deadly force, even if an alternative course  of action
  4 16 is available if the alternative entails a risk of  life or
  4 17 safety, or the life or safety of a third party, or  requires one
  4 18 to abandon or retreat from one's residence or  place of business
  4 19 or employment.
  4 20    This bill provides that a person may use reasonable force,
  4 21 including deadly force, if it is reasonable to believe such
  4 22 force is necessary to avoid injury or risk to one's life or
  4 23 safety or the life or safety of another, even if an alternative
  4 24 course of action is available if the alternative entails a risk
  4 25 to life or safety, or the life or safety of a third party.
  4 26    The bill provides that a person may be wrong in the
  4 27 estimation of the danger or the force necessary to repel the
  4 28 danger as long as there is a reasonable basis for the belief
  4 29 and the person acts reasonably in the response to that belief.
  4 30    The bill further provides that a person who is not engaged in
  4 31 an illegal activity has no duty to retreat from any place where
  4 32 the person is lawfully present before using force.  The bill
  4 33 prohibits a finder of fact from considering the possibility of
  4 34 retreat as a factor in determining whether or not a person who
  4 35 used force reasonably believed that the force was necessary to
  5  1 prevent injury, loss, or risk to life or safety.
  5  2    The bill provides that a threat to cause serious injury
  5  3 or death by the production, display, or brandishing of a
  5  4 deadly weapon, is not deadly force, as long as the actions of
  5  5 the person are limited to creating an expectation that the
  5  6 person may use deadly force to defend oneself, another, or as
  5  7 otherwise authorized by law.
  5  8    The bill creates presumptions for the justifiable use of
  5  9 deadly force in certain circumstances.
  5 10    Under the bill, a person is presumed to be justified in
  5 11 using deadly force if the person reasonably believes that
  5 12 deadly force is necessary to avoid injury or risk to one's
  5 13 life or safety or the life or safety of another under the
  5 14 following circumstances: the person against whom force is used
  5 15 is unlawfully entering by force or stealth, or has unlawfully
  5 16 entered by force or stealth and remains within a dwelling,
  5 17 place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the
  5 18 person using force; or the person against whom force is used
  5 19 is unlawfully removing or attempting to remove another person
  5 20 against the other person's will from a dwelling, place of
  5 21 business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using
  5 22 force.  In addition, the person using force must know or have
  5 23 reason to believe that the aforementioned circumstances are
  5 24 occurring or have occurred.
  5 25    The presumption of the use of justifiable deadly force
  5 26 under the bill does not apply at the time force is used in the
  5 27 following circumstances: the person using defensive force is
  5 28 engaged in a criminal offense or activity; the person sought
  5 29 to be removed is a child or grandchild or is otherwise in the
  5 30 lawful custody of the person against whom force is used; the
  5 31 person against whom force is used is a peace officer who has
  5 32 entered or is attempting to enter a dwelling, place of business
  5 33 or employment, or occupied vehicle in the lawful performance
  5 34 of the peace officer's official duties, and the person using
  5 35 force knows or reasonably should know that the person who has
  6  1 entered or is attempting to enter is a peace officer; or the
  6  2 person against whom force is used has the right to be in, or
  6  3 is a lawful resident of, the dwelling, place of business or
  6  4 employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using force, and
  6  5 a protective or no=contact order is not in effect against the
  6  6 person against whom the force is used.
  6  7    The bill provides that a person is justified in the use of
  6  8 reasonable force when the person reasonably believes that such
  6  9 force is necessary to defend oneself or another from any actual
  6 10 as well as imminent use of unlawful force.
  6 11    The bill repeals Code section 707.6 and consolidates
  6 12 criminal and civil immunity provisions in new Code section
  6 13 704.4A.  Under the bill, a person who uses reasonable force
  6 14 shall be immune from any criminal prosecution or civil action
  6 15 for using such force.
  6 16    Under the bill, a law enforcement agency shall not arrest a
  6 17 person for using force unless it determines there is probable
  6 18 cause that the force was unlawful under Code chapter 704.
  6 19    The bill also provides that if a defendant is sued by a
  6 20 plaintiff for using reasonable force, the court shall award the
  6 21 defendant reasonable attorney fees, court costs, compensation
  6 22 for loss of income, and expenses if the court finds the
  6 23 defendant is immune from prosecution.
  6 24    The bill also provides that a person who reasonably
  6 25 believes that a violent felony is being or will imminently be
  6 26 perpetrated is justified in using reasonable force, including
  6 27 deadly force, against a perpetrator to prevent or terminate the
  6 28 perpetration of that felony. The bill defines "violent felony"
  6 29 to mean any felonious assault, murder, violent or forced sexual
  6 30 abuse, kidnapping, robbery, arson, or burglary.
       LSB 1342XS (3) 86
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