It's much more subjective then that. The difference is whatever the authorities who will make prosecuting decisions want it to be. It is simply impossible to write a law that covers every possible situation. Ultimately what constitutes imminent danger of death or great bodily harm will be decided by the authorities who's job it is to prosecute and then the court that will hear the case if it is prosecuted. The best thing I can tell you is that you need to apply the "reasonable man" rule when you make any decision to use deadly force. There is no checklist in the law that says the use of deadly force is always legal in this situation. Each situation is different and what the police and the prosecutor look at is the circumstances that led up to the use of deadly force and how the law applies to them. Political and local community standards also figure into those decisions but those things are so variable it's not worth discussing them. There is no statute of limitations on murder. So if one prosecutor thinks it was legally justified, the next prosecutor might not. Darren Wilson (the Ferguson police officer who shot Michael Brown in 2014) can tell you all about this. A grand jury didn't indict him for that shooting. Then a new prosecutor (Wesley Bell) was elected in St Louis County on the campaign promise to re-open the case. Wilson was put back into limbo on if he would be charged for two years until the new prosecutor decided he couldn't convict Wilson if he charged him with murder. That was what Bell released to the public, not that Wilson's shooting was legally justified, but that there wasn't enough evidence to secure a conviction.
Illinois also:
https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/il...&ChapterID=53&SeqStart=8300000&SeqEnd=9900000
(720 ILCS 5/7-3) (from Ch. 38, par. 7-3)
Sec. 7-3. Use of force in defense of other property.
(a) A person is justified in the use of force against another when and to the extent that he reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to prevent or terminate such other's trespass on or other tortious or criminal interference with either real property (other than a dwelling) or personal property, lawfully in his possession or in the possession of another who is a member of his immediate family or household or of a person whose property he has a legal duty to protect. However, he is justified in the use of force which is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm only if he reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
(b) In no case shall any act involving the use of force justified under this Section give rise to any claim or liability brought by or on behalf of any person acting within the definition of "aggressor" set forth in Section 7-4 of this Article, or the estate, spouse, or other family member of such a person, against the person or estate of the person using such justified force, unless the use of force involves willful or wanton misconduct.
(Source: P.A. 93-832, eff. 7-28-04.)
Very limited circumstances. In Illinois forcible felonies are:
https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/il...&ChapterID=53&SeqStart=1000000&SeqEnd=5200000
(720 ILCS 5/2-8) (from Ch. 38, par. 2-8)
Sec. 2-8. "Forcible felony". "Forcible felony" means treason, first degree murder, second degree murder, predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault, robbery, burglary, residential burglary, aggravated arson, arson, aggravated kidnaping, kidnaping, aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm or permanent disability or disfigurement and any other felony which involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual.
(Source: P.A. 88-277; 89-428, eff. 12-13-95; 89-462, eff. 5-29-96.)
You might note that burglary and residential burglary are forcible felonies. But they have a very different definition in Illinois law then trespass does. So if you find someone in your detached garage, barn, machine shed or other real property, you can't just assume he's a burglar. First you have to know what burglary is in Illinois. Let's look at that for a minute:
https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/il...hapterID=53&SeqStart=63000000&SeqEnd=63800000
(720 ILCS 5/Art. 19 heading) ARTICLE 19. BURGLARY
(720 ILCS 5/19-1) (from Ch. 38, par. 19-1)
Sec. 19-1. Burglary.
(a) A person commits burglary when without authority he or she knowingly enters or without authority remains within a building, housetrailer, watercraft, aircraft, motor vehicle, railroad car, or any part thereof, with intent to commit therein a felony or theft. This offense shall not include the offenses set out in Section 4-102 of the Illinois Vehicle Code.
I referenced a local case where this came into play in an earlier post. I'm sure most people have seen the movie HEAT. Do you remember the scene when the LAPD has the crew inside the building as they are burning the safe, the crew gets spooked and leaves without taking anything and they aren't arrested because the only charges they had on them were breaking and entering and trespass. Misdemeanors........That's a good example of what comes into play here. To be justified in using deadly force on someone you find on your property you have to be able to prove they were there to commit a forcible felony.
This is one of the reasons we have the rule about quoting law. It's too easy for a lay person to read the part about use of force to protect other property and look up forcible felony and see burglary on the list. Said lay person discovers someone in their detached garage, assumes that they have a burglar and shoots the person. But....they forgot to look up what the elements of the crime of burglary are, now they have shot a trespasser......That's a big opps...a life changing opps. Even peace officers who receive 40 hours of criminal law in the academy and regular in service updates can't know all of the laws and how they are applied. In many cases even the states attorneys can't keep it all in their head. I've had conferences with the states attorney where we discussed a case and the states attorney broke out the statute and then did an online search for court interpretations of the statute while deciding what charges to bring.
You simply don't have the time to do that in a situation where you might have to use deadly force, even if you do have a good enough legal background to make the right choice. Just because you think the law means something after you've read it, the courts may (and in many cases have) ruled that the law doesn't mean exactly what it says in the statute. You have no way of knowing that from reading the statute alone.
A mistake will change your life forever.......
