Woman Kills Jail Escapee Who’s Kicking In Her Door
Early on December 4, 2018, two inmates beat up two detention officers at the jail in Pickens County, South Carolina, took their keys, locked them in a room and got out. Sheriff Rick Clark said the escape had been planned for days. Other inmates tried to help the officers, and the officers were expected to recover.
One escapee, Timothy Dill, was spotted on a nearby road and caught by deputies within about half an hour. The other, 30-year-old Bruce McLaughlin Jr., went the other way. Around 3 a.m., still in his orange jumpsuit, he kicked in the back door of a house in Pickens where a woman was home alone.
According to the sheriff, McLaughlin grabbed a foot-long metal knife-sharpening tool from her kitchen and headed for her bedroom. CBS News reported the sheriff said the evidence backed up her account that he came to her bedroom door, “just feet away” from where she had been sleeping, and that she had no escape route. She shot him once in the head. He died at the hospital.
She had gone through training and had a concealed weapons permit. “This was a big guy. If she hadn’t had a weapon there’s no telling what would have happened,” Clark told the Associated Press. “I gave her a big hug. I told her how proud I was of her.”
McLaughlin had been in and out of that jail about a dozen times, on charges from drug possession to assaulting a police officer, and was awaiting trial on first-degree burglary and grand larceny, the AP reported. Dill was awaiting trial on a charge of criminal sexual conduct with a minor and was charged with escape, kidnapping and assault.
On December 17, the solicitor’s office said she would not be charged. Assistant Solicitor J. Baker Cleveland III called what she did “a textbook example” of what South Carolina’s Protection of Persons and Property Act is meant to protect (WYFF).
She set herself up before she needed it
The sheriff kept coming back to one thing. She “took the time to get a [concealed weapons permit] and set herself up to protect herself,” he said. She didn’t go searching through the house. He came to her, and she was ready when he got there.
That’s the whole point of training. You don’t get to schedule the night someone kicks in your door.
What this means in Minnesota
South Carolina presumes you had a reasonable fear of death or great bodily injury when someone is unlawfully and forcibly entering your home (S.C. Code § 16-11-440). Minnesota has no presumption like that. Here, deadly force has to be necessary to resist an offense you reasonably believe exposes you to great bodily harm or death, or to prevent a felony in your home (Minn. Stat. § 609.065), and you have no duty to retreat inside your home.
A stranger kicks in your back door at 3 a.m., arms himself with a metal tool from your kitchen and comes to your bedroom door. Those are facts you could explain to anyone. In Minnesota you would still have to explain them, first to the police and your attorney, and maybe to a jury.
I cover home defense and Minnesota’s self-defense law in my Permit to Carry class. Sign up for a Permit to Carry class at mnselfdefense.com. Questions? Text me at 507-533-5774 or email chris@mnselfdefense.com.
Chris Marquette, Precision Plus Firearms Training
Disclaimer
This post is general education, not legal advice. I’m a firearms instructor, not your attorney. Laws and court decisions change, and every situation is different. If you have questions about a specific situation, talk to a Minnesota attorney.
Sources
News
“Sheriff: Woman kills jail escapee who kicks in her door,” Associated Press (via ABC Columbia), Dec. 5, 2018
“‘Hero’ homeowner fatally shoots escaped inmate who kicked in her door, sheriff says,” CBS News, Dec. 2018
“No criminal charges sought against woman who shot, killed escaped inmate who kicked in her door, officials say,” WYFF 4, Dec. 17, 2018
Statutes
Minn. Stat. § 609.065, Justifiable Taking of Life
S.C. Code Ann. § 16-11-440, Protection of Persons and Property Act