Stand one's ground

A stand-your-ground law (sometimes called "line in the sand" or "no duty to retreat" law) is a justification in a criminal case, whereby defendants can "stand their ground" and use force without retreating, in order to protect and defend themselves or others against threats or perceived threats. An example is where there is no duty to retreat from any place where they have a lawful right to be, and that they may use any level of force if they reasonably believe the threat rises to the level of being an imminent and immediate threat of serious bodily harm or death. One case describes "the 'stand your ground' law... a person has a right to expect absolute safety in a place they have a right to be, and may use deadly force to repel an unlawful intruder."

Justification using stand-your-ground laws may be limited when "[the defendant] was engaged in illegal activities and not entitled to benefit from provisions of the 'stand your ground' law". This may be the case even if the illegal conduct the defendant was engaged in had nothing to do with the threat which instigated his use of deadly force (e.g., being robbed and beaten while smoking marijuana inside a the home of a friend).

Stand-your-ground laws effectively extends the Castle Doctrine from the home (whether a house, apartment, mobile home or any other regular place of abode), to any place a person has a legal right to be.

At common law, self-defence claims are not valid if the defendant could have safely retreated from danger. The Castle Doctrine is an exception to this duty to retreat. It gives immunity from liability to individuals who acted in self-defence in the home even if they could have safely retreated from the threat and failed to do so.

Stand-your-ground laws eliminate the retreat requirement at any location the defendant has a legal right to be.

The states that have legislatively adopted stand-your-ground laws are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina (Stand Your Ground law (N.C.G.S. 14 51.3)), North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

The states that have adopted stand-your-ground in practice, either through case law/precedent, jury instructions or by other means, are California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington.

...
Wikipedia