S.F. No. 2159 Summary

• Amends Minnesota Statutes section 609.065 to codify and expand self-defense and defense of home laws, titled the "Defense of Dwelling and Person Act of 2015"

• Eliminates the common law duty to retreat in self-defense situations outside the home; allows individuals to use superior force and meet force with force when defending themselves

• Expands the definition of "dwelling" to include overnight accommodations, motor vehicles, watercraft, mobile homes, tents, and associated structures like decks and porches

• Creates presumptions that a person using deadly force has reasonable belief of imminent threat if target unlawfully enters or remains in the dwelling or vehicle by force or stealth

• Provides immunity from criminal prosecution for individuals using justified defensive force and shifts burden to the state to prove beyond reasonable doubt that actions were not justifiable in criminal trials

• Effective August 1, 2015