Opinion ID: 2517123
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defense of Habitation

Text: {14} The trial court denied the defense of habitation instruction based on its conclusion that the defense applies to only those situations in which an intruder is killed within the home. Picking up the torch lit by the trial court, the State now argues that the defense should be limited to situations in which a person forcibly enters a home and is killed while intruding therein. By that argument, the State seeks our endorsement of a bright line rule that would require an intruder to cross the threshold before an occupant's use of force to repel that entry could be justified by defense of habitation. Despite the State's contention, we are unwilling to draw such a bright line. {15} Defense of habitation has long been recognized in New Mexico. See, e.g., State v. Bailey, 27 N.M. 145, 162-63, 198 P. 529, 534 (1921). It gives a person the right to use lethal force against an intruder when such force is necessary to prevent the commission of a felony in his or her home. Id. at 162, 198 P. at 534; see also UJI 14-5170. The defense is grounded in the theory that [t]he home is one of the most important institutions of the state, and has ever been regarded as a place where a person has a right to stand his [or her] ground and repel, force by force, to the extent necessary for its protection. State v. Couch, 52 N.M. 127, 134, 193 P.2d 405, 409 (1946) (quoted authority omitted). Ultimately, in every purported defense of habitation, the use of deadly force is justified only if the defendant reasonably believed that the commission of a felony in his or her home was immediately at hand and that it was necessary to kill the intruder to prevent that occurrence. Id. at 133-34, 193 P.2d at 409; see also UJI 14-5170. {16} This Court has refused to extend the defense to situations in which the victim was fleeing from the defendant, Gonzales, 2007-NMSC-059, ¶ 22, 143 N.M. 25, 172 P.3d 162, as well as situations in which the victim had lawfully entered the defendant's home, see State v. Abeyta, 120 N.M. 233, 244, 901 P.2d 164, 175 (1995) ( abrogated on other grounds by State v. Campos, 1996-NMSC-043, 122 N.M. 148, 921 P.2d 1266). But our courts have never held that entry into the defendant's home is a prerequisite for the defense. On the contrary, the seminal New Mexico case on defense of habitation was clear that, in certain circumstances, it may justify an occupant's use of lethal force against an intruder who is outside the home. Bailey, 27 N.M. at 162, 198 P. at 534. {17} In addition to providing a defense for the killing of an intruder already inside the defendant's home, Bailey explained that defense of habitation justifies killing an intruder who is assaulting the defendant's home with the intent of reaching its occupants and committing a felony against them. Id. Protecting a defendant's right to prevent forced entry necessitates that the defense apply when an intruder is outside the home but endeavoring to enter it. See id. This interpretation of defense of habitation is supported by Couch, where the defendant fired a shotgun from within his home at an intruder who was outside, pelting the home with rocks. 52 N.M. at 130, 193 P.2d at 406. Prior to the night of the shooting, the defendant's home had repeatedly been broken into, which caused he and his wife to suffer[ ] intensely from apprehension of violence at the hands of the unknown intruder. Id. at 130, 139, 193 P.2d at 406, 412. When the later assault on their home occurred, both the defendant and his wife believed that the attackers were the same people who had previously broken in. Id. at 139, 193 P.2d at 412. This Court concluded that, even though the victim was killed outside the home, the defendant was entitled to an instruction on defense of habitation because he could reasonably have believed that the person attacking it intended to enter and commit violence against the occupants. See id. at 140, 145, 193 P.2d at 412-13, 416. {18} The proposition that defense of habitation allows one to kill to prevent an intruder's forced entry is well supported by the law in other jurisdictions and treatises on the subject. See, e.g., People v. Curtis, 30 Cal. App.4th 1337, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 304, 318 (Ct. App.1994) (Defense of habitation applies where the defendant uses reasonable force to exclude someone he or she reasonably believes is trespassing in, or about to trespass in, his or her home. (emphasis added)); State v. Avery, 120 S.W.3d 196, 204 (Mo. 2003) (en banc) ([D]efense of premises . . . authorizes protective acts to be taken . . . at the time when and place where the intruder is seeking to cross the protective barrier of the house. (emphasis added) (quoted authority omitted)); State v. Blue, 356 N.C. 79, 565 S.E.2d 133, 139 (2002) ([U]nder the defense of habitation, the defendant's use of force . . . would be justified to prevent the victim's entry. . . .  (emphasis added)); State v. Rye, 375 S.C. 119, 651 S.E.2d 321, 323 (2007) ([T]he defense of habitation provides that where one attempts to force himself into another's dwelling, the law permits an owner to use reasonable force to expel the trespasser. (emphasis added)); see also 40 C.J.S. Homicide § 164 (2006) (People may defend their dwellings against those who endeavor by violence to enter them and who appear to intend violence to persons inside. . . . (emphasis added)); 2 Wharton's Criminal Law § 131 (15th ed. 1994) (When a dwelling house is entered or attempted to be entered by force . . . the occupant may use deadly force, if reasonably necessary, to prevent or terminate such entry. (emphasis added)). {19} Based on our precedent and the authorities cited above, we cannot accept the position that defense of habitation requires an intruder to cross the threshold of the defendant's home. Instead, we emphasize that a person has a right to defend his or her residence not only when an intruder is already inside the home, but also when an intruder is outside the home and attempting to enter to commit a violent felony. Bailey, 27 N.M. at 162, 198 P. at 534. {20} We recognize that [t]he term felony in former times carried a connotation of greater threat than it does today. State v. Pellegrino, 577 N.W.2d 590, 596 (S.D.1998). In the common law, the rule developed that use of lethal force to prevent a felony was only justified if the felony was a forcible and atrocious crime. Id. (quoted authority omitted). Felonies are no longer constrained to forcible and atrocious crimes, and were we not to update Bailey's felony language, defense of habitation may apply to situations in which an intruder attempts to force entry into a home with the purpose of committing a non-violent felony, such as bribing a public official therein. See NMSA 1978, § 30-24-1 (1963) (bribing a public official is a third degree felony). Seeking to avoid such absurdity, we turn to our prior decisions to determine the meaning of felony as it is used in the defense of habitation context. {21} As noted above, the defendant in Couch was entitled to an instruction on defense of habitation because he could have reasonably believed that the people who were attacking his home intended violence against its occupants. See 52 N.M. at 140, 193 P.2d at 412-13. Later, in Abeyta, this Court held that the defendant did not qualify for a defense of habitation instruction because, among other things, no evidence had been presented that the victim enter[ed] the house in order to commit a felony involving violence. 120 N.M. at 244, 901 P.2d at 175. Those authorities show that the term felony in the defense of habitation context is properly limited to those felonies involving violence. In other words, the felony that the defendant acted to prevent must have been one that would have resulted in violence against the occupants were it not prevented; in the event of any other felony, a defense of habitation instruction would be unwarranted. See Bailey, 27 N.M. at 162-63, 198 P. at 534 ([I]t is not true that a [person] may kill another in his [or her] house when under the same circumstances of danger, or apparent danger, to person or property, he [or she] would not be justified in killing outside [the] house.); see also Pellegrino, 577 N.W.2d at 596 ([P]eople may defend their dwellings against those who endeavor by violence to enter them and who appear to intend violence to persons inside.). {22} Because defense of habitation is not restricted to instances in which the victim is killed inside the defendant's home, the trial court in this case erred when it excluded the instruction on that ground. Defendant would have been entitled to an instruction on the defense if some evidence reasonably tended to show that he killed Victim to prevent her from forcing entry into his home and committing a violent felony once inside. Thus, the question we must now answer is whether, when viewed in the light most favorable to giving the instruction, the evidence supports that theory. We decide that it does not. {23} Defendant asserts that the following evidence is enough to support his theory that he had a reasonable belief that killing Victim was necessary to prevent a felony from occurring within his home: (1) Victim hated Defendant; (2) she knocked on the door to Defendant's home; (3) she had threatened him with a gun in the past; (4) she was furious that the couple was to be married the next day; and (5) she always carried a loaded gun. Absent from that evidence is any demonstration that Victim was endeavor[ing] by violence to enter his home or that she intend[ed] violence to persons inside. 40 C.J.S. Homicide § 164. Assuming that Defendant reasonably believed that Victim intended to commit a felony in his home, defense of habitation would have justified his actions only if he could show that Victim was attempting to force entry to his home. For example, if the evidence showed that Victim was trying to break through Defendant's front door at the time he killed her, defense of habitation would apply. However, under the facts of this case, there is no evidence reasonably tending to support the theory that Victim was attempting to force entry at the time Defendant killed her. After knocking on the door, Victim had retreated some four feet from it and was waiting for it to open. No evidence shows that, at the time she was killed, Victim was attempting to gain entry to Defendant's home with the intent to commit a violent felony therein. {24} Defendant's argument seems to assert that he should have received the instruction because he could have reasonably believed that Victim was going to shoot him and then enter his home to continue the shooting. While that theory justifies the instructions that Defendant received on self defense, see UJI 14-5171 NMRA, and defense of another, see UJI 14-5172 NMRA, it does not give rise to an instruction on defense of habitation because it does not allege any attempted forced entry on Victim's part. {25} Because there is no evidence to support the theory that Defendant killed Victim in defense of his habitation, refusing the instruction was not in error. Although the trial court erred in its reasons for denying the instruction, the end result of its ruling was correct, and thus we affirm. See Meiboom v. Watson, 2000-NMSC-004, ¶ 20, 128 N.M. 536, 994 P.2d 1154 ([E]ven if the district court offered erroneous rationale for its decision, it will be affirmed if right for any reason.).