Arizona Laws 13-418. Justification; use of force in defense of residential structure or occupied vehicles; definitions
A. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a person is justified in threatening to use or using physical force or deadly physical force against another person if the person reasonably believes himself or another person to be in imminent peril of death or serious physical injury and the person against whom the physical force or deadly physical force is threatened or used was in the process of unlawfully or forcefully entering, or had unlawfully or forcefully entered, a residential structure or occupied vehicle, or had removed or was attempting to remove another person against the other person’s will from the residential structure or occupied vehicle.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 13-418
- Deadly physical force: means force that is used with the purpose of causing death or serious physical injury or in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of creating a substantial risk of causing death or serious physical injury. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Person: means a human being and, as the context requires, an enterprise, a public or private corporation, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a firm, a society, a government, a governmental authority or an individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Physical force: means force used upon or directed toward the body of another person and includes confinement, but does not include deadly physical force. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Process: means a citation, writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Property: means anything of value, tangible or intangible. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Serious physical injury: includes physical injury that creates a reasonable risk of death, or that causes serious and permanent disfigurement, serious impairment of health or loss or protracted impairment of the function of any bodily organ or limb. See Arizona Laws 13-105
- Vehicle: means a device in, upon or by which any person or property is, may be or could have been transported or drawn upon a highway, waterway or airway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Arizona Laws 13-105
B. A person has no duty to retreat before threatening or using physical force or deadly physical force pursuant to this section.
C. For the purposes of this section:
1. "Residential structure" has the same meaning prescribed in section 13-1501.
2. "Vehicle" means a conveyance of any kind, whether or not motorized, that is designed to transport persons or property.