An Act To Eliminate the Statutory Duty To Retreat and Affirm the Right of Self-defense
Sec. 1. 17-A MRSA §108, sub-§2, ¶C, as amended by PL 2007, c. 173, §24, is further amended to read:
(1) With the intent to cause physical harm to another, the person provokes such other person to use unlawful deadly force against anyone;
(2) The person knows that the person against whom the unlawful deadly force is directed intentionally and unlawfully provoked the use of such force; or
(3) The person knows that the person or a 3rd person can, with complete safety : surrender property to a person asserting a colorable claim of right to the property.
(a) Retreat from the encounter, except that the person or the 3rd person is not required to retreat if the person or the 3rd person is in the person's dwelling place and was not the initial aggressor;
(b) Surrender property to a person asserting a colorable claim of right thereto; or
(c) Comply with a demand that the person abstain from performing an act that the person is not obliged to perform.
Sec. 2. 17-A MRSA §108, sub-§3 is enacted to read:
SUMMARY
This bill removes the requirements that a person retreat if it is safe to do so and if the person can comply with a demand that the person abstain from performing an act that the person is not obliged to perform. The bill also permits the use of deadly force to prevent death or serious bodily injury in self-defense, in defense of a 3rd person, in defense of a dwelling or to prevent the forcible commission of a kidnapping, a robbery or a gross sexual assault.