Originally Posted by
jinglish
Uh, not quite. In states with castle doctrine or stand-your-ground laws, you're not legally obligated to exhaust all escape options before resorting to force. They don't otherwise relax the standards on whether force is justified.
If you tell a judge: "I was in a hotel room, someone began to enter my room. At first I thought it may be an employee, but cleaning is not done at night, or a guest making a mistake. I loudly declared the room was occupied and I was armed, and they proceeded to enter the room anyways. In fear of my life, and in order to stop the felony in progress (burglary) I fired my weapon" you cannot be convicted.
Many forget that under most stand your ground laws you are allowed to defend yourself from a felony. It is *reasonable* to fear that an intruder, after dark, who ignores shouted demands to leave is intending to do harm.