Virginians may soon be able to defend their homes without fear of prosecution

On Thursday, the Republican-controlled House of Delegates passed what has become known as the “Castle Doctrine” (HB 48), which affords Virginians “the use of physical force, including deadly force, by a person in his dwelling against an intruder” without threat of criminal or civil charges.

The measure sponsored by Del. Richard P. “Dickie” Bell (R-Staunton) passed by a vote of 70-28.

The bill is expected to be approved by the Virginia Senate. Unlike past years, when that body was controlled by the Democrats, there is a 20-20 split with Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling serving as the tie-breaking vote.

For the last several years, this same bill has been defeated by the Democrats.

When the Virginia State Senate killed the bill in 2008, sponsor Del. William R. Janis (R-Henrico) told the Richmond-Times Dispatch: “We say that a person's home is their castle. But we don't really mean it in Virginia law.”

Janis cited a particularly grisly multiple murder in 2006 as one the motivating factors as to why he drafted this legislation.

On New Years Day 2006, the Harvey family in South Richmond were killed by two home-invaders. During the robbery, both Brian and Kathryn Harvey as well as their two little children Stella and Ruby were murdered. But added that a recent rise in home-invasion robberies, as well the case of a Richmond ice cream store manager who shot and killed a robber, and was threatened with charges from the district attorney--also spurred the Delegate to introduce the bill.

That year, the bill was killed by the Virginia Senate Courts of Justice Committee, while it passed with overwhelming support in the House, with a 80-19 vote.

So why would a bill which received very strong bi-partisan support in one house of the General Assembly be killed in committee (11-4 vote), without even receiving a vote in the other body?...Perhaps, it is the fact that six of the eleven who voted not to give immunity from prosecution or from lawsuits to homeowners--are trial lawyers.

The names of those Va. legislators/lawyers are as follows:

-Henry L. Marsh III (D) -Ken Stolle (R) -Creigh Deeds (D) -Thomas Norment (R) -Roscoe Reynolds (D) -John Edwards (D)

Unfortunately, Virginia law, as Del. Janis described “makes the homeowner the person who has to prove they acted in a reasonable fashion, not the intruder. All this does is shift the presumption around and says the homeowner is presumed to have acted reasonably, unless and until the facts demonstrate that they didn't act reasonably.”

It now looks as if that reality will be changed on July 1, 2012 when bills passed during the current General Assembly become law.

Read the entire text of HB 48 here: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+sum+HB48

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