Even though the doctrine may have some legal edges, the common-sense reasoning that supports the doctrine is — for many — a welcome reawakening of the right to protect your home and family. For far too long, rights of criminals have triumphed over the rights of law-abiding citizens.
Thankfully, through the Castle Doctrine, the pendulum of protection swings back to the citizenry — where it belongs.
Long ingrained in our collective consciousness is the belief that a man’s home is his castle. If this concept is our societal belief, then every person should have every right to protect his or her home and family with all his or her might against anyone who would dare to break into his or her “castle.”
In simplified form, Ohio’s Castle Doctrine presumes that a resident acted in self-defense if he used force against someone who unlawfully enters his home or occupied vehicle. Homeowners having the law on their side is only a recent fact.
Prior to Ohio’s Castle Doctrine, homeowners had to show that they acted in self-defense to use force to defend their home. In other words, the burden was on the homeowners, and they had to make a snap decision about only using as much force as was reasonable to properly defend their home and family.
This unreasonable burden left homeowners having to make decisions about the value of their families’ lives while doing a legal balancing test with an intruder threatening their loved ones.
Prior to Ohio’s Castle Doctrine, the law also forced homeowners who protected their home from an intruder to face off against the court system. A homeowner could have been charged for acting with excessive force and, as a result, that homeowner would have to appear in criminal court.
Homeowners could have also faced a civil lawsuit from the criminal intruders’ families.
The unreasonable legal burdens left homeowners having to spend their time and money defending their reputations — all because some criminal thought he could violate the sanctity of a law-abiding family.
Ohio’s new Castle Doctrine now makes it clear that you and your family’s lives do not need to be balanced on a reasonableness scale, but rather should be protected. The Castle Doctrine also protects you from having to spend money simply because you validly protected your family and your castle.
Specifically, the Castle Doctrine states that “a person is presumed to have acted in self-defense or defense of another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another if the person against whom the defensive force is used is in the process of unlawfully and without privilege to do so entering, or has unlawfully and without privilege to do so entered, the residence or vehicle occupied by the person using the defensive force.”
Courts in Ohio have followed this law, and found that: “Under the Castle Doctrine, a person is presumed to have acted in self-defense when attempting to expel or expelling another from their home who is unlawfully present. Further, under the Castle Doctrine, a person attempting to expel or expelling another is allowed to use deadly force or force great enough to cause serious bodily harm. There is also no duty to retreat inside one’s home anymore.”
Consequently, the honest, hardworking citizens have been given back law and order. The Second Amendment gives you the right to bear arms; the Castle Doctrine lets you use them.
Now that the law has teeth, criminal intruders need to live in fear. While some may debate this law, the conclusion to be drawn is simple: Your home is now your castle again, so intruders, beware.
Jason Phillabaum is an assistant prosecutor for Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper. He is married, has two children and resides in West Chester Twp.