2017 Rhode Island General Laws
Title 11 - Criminal Offenses
Chapter 11-8 - Burglary and Breaking and Entering
Section 11-8-8 - Injury or death - Defense.
§ 11-8-8. Injury or death - Defense.
In the event that any person shall die or shall sustain a personal injury in any way or for any cause while in the commission of any criminal offense enumerated in §§ 11-8-2 - 11-8-6, it shall be rebuttably presumed as a matter of law in any civil or criminal proceeding that the owner, tenant, or occupier of the place where the offense was committed acted by reasonable means in self-defense and in the reasonable belief that the person engaged in the criminal offense was about to inflict great bodily harm or death upon that person or any other individual lawfully in the place where the criminal offense was committed. There shall be no duty on the part of an owner, tenant, or occupier to retreat from any person engaged in the commission of any criminal offense enumerated in §§ 11-8-2 - 11-8-6.
History of Section.
(P.L. 1976, ch. 216, § 1; P.L. 1977, ch. 17, § 1; P.L. 1984, ch. 212, § 1.)
