Legal Question in Criminal Law in Georgia

If this happened, you should already have a lawyer for you and your son.

Get an attorney. But the relevant statute in question in my legal opinion is...

O.C.G.A. � 16-3-23 Defense of justifiable force to prevent unlawful entry or attack upon habitation

A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to prevent or terminate such other's unlawful entry into or attack upon a habitation; however, such person is justified in the use of force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if:

(1) The entry is made or attempted in a violent and tumultuous manner and he or she reasonably believes that the entry is attempted or made for the purpose of assaulting or offering personal violence to any person dwelling or being therein and that such force is necessary to prevent the assault or offer of personal violence;

(2) That force is used against another person who is not a member of the family or household and who unlawfully and forcibly enters or has unlawfully and forcibly entered the residence and the person using such force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry occurred; or

(3) The person using such force reasonably believes that the entry is made or attempted for the purpose of committing a felony therein and that such force is necessary to prevent the commission of the felony.

You need an attorney.

If you made up the fact pattern, secure your gun as you COULD go to jail for whatever your child does with your unsecured gun.

If it already happened, get two very good lawyers - one for you and one for your son.

First, I don't see you going to prison for something someone else did, irrespective of your relationship to them. Second, I don't see your son going to prison for defense of property. Third, I think the fact pattern is "loaded." Let me tell you why: (1) you write that your son "somehow knows" (you didn't tell him...he just guessed that you had a gun in the house, and he just guessed correctly where you kept the gun, and he just so happened to guess at the exact moment when someone he did not know is breaking into your house, and he just happened to guess correctly at that moment, rather than calling 911). All of that is difficult to believe. I suspect that you wrote "somehow knows" because you are trying to distance yourself from his decision to get your gun and shoot someone; (2) I would love to know the relationship between the burglar and your son. Your son does not get a pass for shooting someone that he knows, by calling the someone a burglar after the fact. If the burglar was a friend trying to recover his PSP or IPAD, you and your son have a problem. If the burglar who was shot is a complete stranger, shot inside of your home after entering your home unlawfully (not invited in) then I suspect no one is going to jail. But don't ask loaded questions, then try and figure out why your son is in prison, when you failed to tell teh on-line attorneys on the free website that your son knew the burglar. After 16 years in the field, I know too much to even believe the event when down as you describe it and the prosecutor is thinking about charging someone.

Lawrence