SF 2224 (LSB 5629XS (3) 85)

SENATE FILE 2224

BY  GUTH, ERNST, ANDERSON, BERTRAND, WHITVER, KAPUCIAN, ZUMBACH, BREITBACH, SCHNEIDER, BEHN, GARRETT, ZAUN, CHAPMAN, GREINER, HOUSER, SINCLAIR, BOETTGER, SEGEBART, and ROZENBOOM

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the justifiable use of reasonable force and providing a remedy.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 704.1, Code 2014, 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 2014, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  1A.  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.
    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 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 2014, 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 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   704.7  Resisting forcible violent felony.
   1.  As used in this section, “violent felony” means any 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 2014, is repealed.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with

the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   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 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 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 expenses 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.