If someone is making your home a target for criminal activity, what can you do to protect yourself and your property? Can you actually use that gun you purchased to protect yourself or your home?

In a recent case from Detroit, authorities say a man whose home had been broken into three times in the last week fatally shot an unarmed burglary suspect who verbally provoked him.
Thirty-one-year-old Tigh Croff was arraigned Wednesday on charges of second-degree murder and using a firearm in a felony. A magistrate set his bond at $40,000 and scheduled a preliminary examination Jan. 11 The suspect apparently lead Croff on a chase. At one point the man stopped and reportedly raised his hands, saying, "What are you going to do, shoot me?". Croff is charged with doing just that.

There is a self-defense statute that protects homeowners if they are in great danger. Ingham County Prosecutor, Stuart J. Dunnings III, says that you have to be in great danger before you kill someone in self defense. That issue is laid out in a statute. He says, "Here's the hitch, has an honest and reasonable belief that imminent death or sexual assault of, or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another individual will occur if certain things apply."

In relation to the Detroit case, Dunnings says, "The question then becomes, is at the time that he shot the person when he was standing there with his arms up in surrender, if the shooter was in imminent threat of death, sexual assault or great bodily harm."

In reference to the statute, Cooley Law Professor Ron Bertz says, "The statute is a self defense statute, so that's only applicable when another person is physically threatening you with great bodily harm. You walk into your backyard and some guy's pointing a gun at you and says, 'You're dead now buddy,' you can pull out your gun and shoot him first. I mean, that's the oldest rule in the world and there never was a statute on that until just about a year ago."

It's important to remember that just because someone is on your property, you can't just shoot them. That's trespassing. However, if someone enters your home to commit a felony, Bretz says you can use deadly force to protect your property. He says, "If somebody's breaking into your house, that's not called burglary, that's called home invasion, and that's a felony. If somebody's breaking into your house or has broken into your home, the court cases say you are allowed to use deadly force."

Even if the felon is fleeing, Bretz says the courts have upheld the use of deadly force. He says, "If you wake up in the middle of the night and hear somebody in your house and you creep down the stairs and look and there is a guy going out your back door with your laptop and your DVD player, under his arms according to the supreme court 1999 decision, you have the right to shoot them in the back."

He says one thing that homeowners should consider is that they cannot use deadly force if someone enters their home in a non-felony situation. He cites the example of someone entering your home to "get warm" if they are homeless. Bretz says that police would probably recommend using deadly force only as a last option.

Also, other states differ in how they handle these situations. Bretz says, "It's applied differently, depending on what state you're in. Some states, like Michigan, we call the 'Make My Day' states from the Clint Eastwood movies. In other words, if somebody's trying to steal your stuff, you can shoot them. And, to be more specific, the law in Michigan is the citizens in Michigan have the right to use deadly force which is defined as anything that can cause death or serious injury. You have the right to use deadly force against anyone who's committing or fleeing from a felony."

In the Croff case, the man he was chasing was reportedly unarmed. And, Prosecutor Dunnings points out that every case is different. He says, "It's hard to give you a blanket rule because every fact situation is going to have its own outcome depending on certain things. A homeowner certainly has a reasonable right to use self defense in protection of his home and his property. But, it's always going to be at the time it's used, was the conduct reasonable?...and that's where this fellow may have some problems."