What is the test for using force to evict a trespasser?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Almeda, C089233 (Cal. App. 2021):

3. The instruction, as given, explained that "[t]he owner or lawful occupant of a home or property may request that a trespasser leave the home or property. [] If the trespasser does not leave within a reasonable time and it would appear to a reasonable person that the trespasser poses a threat to the home or property[,] or the owner or occupants, the owner or lawful occupant may use reasonable force to make that trespasser leave. [] Reasonable force means the amount of force that a reasonable person in the same situation would believe is necessary to make the trespasser leave. [] If the trespasser resists, the owner or lawful occupant may increase the amount of force he or she uses in proportion to the force used by the trespasser and the threat the trespasser poses to the property. [] When deciding whether the owner or lawful occupant used reasonable force, consider all the circumstances as they were known to and appeared to him and consider what a reasonable person in a similar situation with similar knowledge would believe. [] If the owner and lawful occupant[']s beliefs were reasonable, the danger does not need to actually have existed."

4. The People concede defendant's claim has been preserved for appeal. (People v. Scott (1978) 21 Cal.3d 284, 290.)

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