Warren Delaney believed that his home was his “castle,” and during the summer months every year, his “castle” was a tiny cabin nestled in the woods of upstate New York. Delaney was an Economics professor at a small college in Florida, and for him, there was no better way to “rest and recharge” after a hectic academic year than to head north for the cozy confines of his cabin.
For several consecutive years, Warren’s cabin had been vandalized and/or burglarized during the winter months while he was in Florida. During the winter of 2006, several windows had been shattered. In the winter of 2007, several pieces of furniture had been stolen. At some point during the winter of 2008, the bedroom mattress had been ripped apart for some unexplained reason, with foam and fabric scattered about the bedroom floor. On each of these occasions, the perpetrator had forced the front door lock open, and had entered the cabin through the front door.
Warren envisioned a way to stop the criminal(s) responsible for these violations. He spring-loaded a shotgun in the living room of the cabin, and pointed it directly at the front door. The shotgun was configured so that if someone opened the front door while he was away, it would fire at the intruder.
Warren returned to his cabin in May 2010 and came upon a grisly scene. The front door had been opened, and at the threshold was the partially-decomposed body of what appeared to be a middle-aged man, dead of a shotgun blast to the chest. Warren immediately called the local sheriff, Officer Brian Mulholland. Upon arriving at the scene and briefly questioning Warren, Officer Mulholland arrested him.
Was the arrest valid? Did Warren Delaney commit first-degree murder? Did Warren use justifiable force in this situation?