Was Jeremy Johnson’s shooting of Jamaris McDaniel justified under Mississippi’s castle doctrine?

The arrest this week of a homeowner who shot a person attempting to burglarize his home has brought attention to Mississippi’s castle doctrine.

Vicksburg police arrested Jeremy Johnson for aggravated assault after he allegedly shot Jamaris McDaniel at his residence.

According to police, Johnson confronted McDaniel and two others in the process of burglarizing his home. Police say that Johnson knew the burglars were in his house when he was in another location, “in a place of safety,” according to Capt. Mike Bryant. Instead of calling police, he went to his home to confront them and found them leaving the house through a back door. Johnson shot McDaniel as McDaniel was fleeing, and then left the scene before police arrived.

Johnson was also charged with felony possession of marijuana.

People often confuse stand-your-ground laws with castle doctrines. While both laws allow people to defend themselves, stand your ground covers defense in public spaces and castle doctrines refer to defending yourself on personal property.

Mississippi has one of the broadest castle doctrine laws in the country. The law, passed in 2006, is an amendment to the state’s justifiable homicide laws.

The law states that a person can use defensive force, even deadly force, if another person has forcibly entered or is threatening to forcibly enter their property while they occupy that space. Property can include a person’s house or apartment, their business or place of employment, even their vehicle. Technically, it can include any place with a roof that someone intends to occupy, whether stationary or mobile.

If a person is injured or dies as a result of such a defense, the law says the force is justifiable in some circumstances:

• If the person defending their space fears for their life or fears great bodily harm if they do not defend themselves.
• If the person forcibly entering the property is trying to perform a felony attack (such as kidnapping, murder, assault or rape) on the person defending their space or someone else. In other words, the person defending their space can also defend someone else in that space.

Like most things legal, Mississippi’s castle doctrine has some areas of gray. Proving that a property owner feared for their life, for example, isn’t always easy. Often, such ambiguities are left for a jury to decide.

Did Jeremy Johnson fear for his life? Was Jamaris McDaniel in the process of a felony attack on Johnson?

Apparently, the officers who arrested both men did not think so, prompting their charge of aggravated assault against Johnson. A jury may disagree.

Updated to include more details from the Vicksburg Police. See our live interviews with Capt. Mike Bryant about the case and District Attorney Ricky Smith about the castle doctrine on Facebook.