Is it legal to kill an unarmed person that you catch in your house?

Depends on if your state has the Castle Doctrine, or not ....

What is the biggest thing most armed citizens fail to plan for

What happens in most cases immediately after a “justified shooting”

What plans should you have in place in case you ever have to use deadly force

How does a deadly force incident differ when it is in your home vs. away

What about the castle doctrine, how much protection does it really provide

Can a shooting be legally justified in one state and not another with the same facts

Listen to (or read) this for the answers to those questions and more. This man knows the law. He served 19 years as chair of the Firearms Committee of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers. - http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/episode-1094-mas...

it could be both

to use self defense, your life must be in danger

so just having an intruder in your house is NOT enough

but if they turn and start coming toward you, even if unarmed, you can shoot them

but if they are walking away, you cannot shoot them in the back

The long-established, well-accepted rule is that you may only use 'deadly force' to prevent murder or mayhem. This means you can't shoot someone you know is unarmed and harmless. But in the real world, if you catch someone breaking into your house you are allowed to assume he's armed. If you know he's NOT armed, and that can be proven in court, you're in big trouble.

I ask gun-rights people "If you see someone breaking into your car parked out at the curb, do you have the right to shoot him?" About half of them get it right--you can't use deadly force to protect property, only life and limb.

I wouldn't kill him or even shoot him but you could mess with his mind and let him think you will so maybe it would teach him something. I don't think it would be legal to kill him, I don't know.

It would be attempted murder if he gets to make a statement to the police.

If your mother/wife/daughter/son has a boyfriend you don't know about, you could be in deep poo.

You have believe you are in imminent danger of losing your life or receiving great bodily harm and that the killing is necessary to save yourself from that danger.

In most states, you must convince the judge that you had some reasonable cause to believe your life was in imminent danger.

You must also believe he is a danger but the law presumes you do, so you should avoid saying things like "I knew it was my neighbors kid that that was so drunk he came in my house by mistake¨.

http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/21761849/sheriff-home...

It is legal under castle doctrine.