So Much Heat but so little Fire
Come on guys -- it seems that many of you talk, but all I hear is conjecture. What do the experts say? For that, I turn to the reviled lawyers. To whit:
Regardless of what happens during an armed confrontation with a BG, the only thing you say to the police is:
"I have done nothing wrong, I want a lawyer."
Say it until they stop asking you questions, because it is their job to record any stupid thing you might utter. Then let your lawyer keep you from further assault, either from a lawsuit filed by the dead BG's family, and/or a trial by the local DA.
Regarding your rights in California to defend your home and hearth, I refer to the 2007 California edition of
How to Own a Gun and Stay Out of Jail. Note that there is an edition for most of the populated states of the union.
It says in Ch. 5 that to shoot a BG in self defense:
"You must have an honest and reasonable belief that you are in imminent danger of death or great bodily injury...and your
acts are necessary to prevent injury."
The book goes on to say that California State law provides that your shooting in your home is
presumed to be necessary when you have an honest and reasonable belief that an intruder unlawfully and forcibly entered your residence [I do a bit of paraphrasing].
So I will shoot a BG confronting me in my California home, much less my bedroom, and he doesn't need to utter threats.
Since I said nothing to the police that would give them any idea of what I felt or knew, it means that a DA will have a harder time proving to a jury what I knew about the BG's entrance into my home. If there is an absence of evidence that the BG did made a forcible entry, then the DA has a better case if he wants to prosecute but at least I don't make it easier for him by saying anything stupid to the police.
Note that in California you have very limited right to pursue a BG outside your house, as when his attack "ends," your right to defend yourself also ends.