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KRS 503.080

Protection of property

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Jewell v. Commonwealth (1977)

Most recently applied in 163 F. Supp. 3d 465 - Holly v. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Inc. (February 2016)

Effective: July 15, 2024 History: Amended 2024 Ky

How often courts cite this section

19771980199020002010201620
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) The use of physical force by a defendant upon another person is justifiable when the defendant believes that such force is immediately necessary to prevent:

(a) The commission of criminal trespass, robbery, burglary, or other felony involving the use of force, or under those circumstances permitted pursuant to KRS 503.055, in a dwelling, building or upon real property in his or her possession or in the possession of another person for whose protection he or she acts;

(b) Theft, criminal mischief, or any trespassory taking of tangible, movable property in his or her possession or in the possession of another person for whose protection he or she acts; or (c) The commission of unlawful camping in violation of KRS 511.110, when:

1. The offense is occurring on property owned or leased by the defendant;

2. The individual engaged in unlawful camping has been told to cease; and 3. The individual committing the offense has used force or threatened to use force against the defendant.

(2) The use of deadly physical force by a defendant upon another person is justifiable under subsection (1) of this section only when the defendant believes that the person against whom such force is used is:

(a) Attempting to dispossess him or her of his or her dwelling otherwise than under a claim of right to its possession; or (b) Committing or attempting to commit a burglary, robbery, or other felony involving the use of force, or under those circumstances permitted pursuant to KRS 503.055, of such dwelling; or (c) Committing or attempting to commit arson of a dwelling or other building in his or her possession.

(3) A person does not have a duty to retreat if the person is in a place where he or she has a right to be.

Official source: Kentucky General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Kentucky statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.