Self-defense law in South Carolina covers more ground than many people realize, from whether you must retreat before using force, to what happens if someone breaks into your home, to whether you can step in to protect someone else. Greg McCollum answers three of the most common questions clients ask about these laws below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do You Have to Retreat Before Using Deadly Force?
No. The self-defense law in South Carolina is called stand your ground. Prior to that, the law was you always had to retreat. So if you’re in danger and you can safely retreat, you had a duty to retreat. When South Carolina changed the law, this was a few years ago, and passed the stand your ground law, that means you no longer have the duty to retreat. Now, you never had the duty to retreat if you were inside your house, if you’re on your property, if you were at your business, there was no duty to retreat from those things.
However, if you were at a shopping center, or out somewhere on foot, and you had the ability to retreat, then the law required you to do it. The South Carolina legislature changed all that with the stand your ground law, and they said you have the legal right as a person that if you’re being threatened, you do not have to retreat. You do not have to try to avoid the danger. You have the right to stand your ground and meet force with force. So in that situation, the force that you’re using to stand your ground has to be in equal measure to the danger being applied to you.
In other words, if somebody’s pointing a gun at you and you use a gun and shoot them, that’s justified. If somebody’s attacking you with a knife, and you have a gun and you shoot them in self-defense, they’re using deadly force. It’s very difficult to make these determinations in real time when something like this is happening, but in general, whatever force is being used to threaten you, you have to use a force similar to that.
So if they’re using deadly force, you can use deadly force. If they’re swinging a fly swatter at you and it’s likely to sting, then you can’t pull out your 44 Magnum and blow them away. But you could use something to defend yourself, and if they ended up getting hurt, you’re justified in defending yourself. So you do not have to retreat in South Carolina.
Can You Shoot Someone Who Breaks Into Your House?
Yes. In general, you can shoot somebody who breaks into your house. And this is South Carolina law. Our main office is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, so when I’m talking about law here, it’s the law in South Carolina, and the law can be different in other states. Under South Carolina law, sometimes it’s called the castle doctrine. Your house is your castle. The idea is that if somebody breaks into your house, the law presumes that that person is armed with deadly force. In other words, the law presumes that that person is a dangerous intruder.
So legally, it gives you the ability to counteract that with using self-defense force as if they’re trying to kill you. So that’s the law.
So the simple answer is yes, if somebody breaks into your house, you can shoot and ask questions later. Now, in reality, if that person is really not a threat to you, say you wake up in the night and you see the person fleeing because you turn on a light and you went downstairs, and you see the person fleeing and they’re on the way out the door, the doors are open or they’re climbing out a window, and you shoot them in the back as they’re fleeing, you’re going to have a problem there because everyone’s going to look at that and say that wasn’t justified.
That’s a murder, that’s not self-defense, because you’re not being threatened anymore. So the law says yes, but as a lawyer who defends these cases, I would caution anybody to only use deadly force if you think your life is in danger, regardless of what the law says on the books, because the law as written and how it’s applied in reality, where someone is dead and emotions are running high, they don’t always match up. That can be argued in court that you were completely justified, but the result there is not guaranteed that you’ll win.
Can You Shoot Someone to Protect Another Person in South Carolina?
Yes. We all know about self-defense laws, and there are laws of self-defense, and everybody’s heard of self-defense. As part of self-defense, there’s also a defense because the defense ultimately is your defense in court. When you say it was self-defense, that presumes that you’re being accused of something or possibly formally charged with a crime, and then you have what’s called a legal affirmative defense to present in court. Present as part of your defense, your legal defense, you had the right of self-defense.
In other words, you’re not guilty of assault, you’re not guilty of attempted murder, you’re not guilty of murder, because you have an affirmative defense that you acted within the law. You acted reasonably because you acted in self-defense, which is a legal concept. So parallel to self-defense is defense of others, and you have the legal right to defend someone else the same as you would defend yourself.
That could be somebody that you have a relationship with, that could be a family member, that could be somebody that is a friend of yours, or it could be a stranger where you see a stranger is about to be harmed or killed, and you act in defense of others. In other words, you’re doing what they could legally do to defend themselves. So that’s called defense of others, a long-standing legal principle. If they had the right to defend themselves, you are able to defend them under defense of others. So yes, if the circumstances justify it, you can defend someone else.
Understanding these self-defense laws is one thing. Having the right advocate if you’re facing charges tied to a self-defense claim is another. Greg McCollum brings close to 30 years of legal experience to these cases, including his background as a former prosecutor, giving him insight into how these charges are built and how they can be defended. That combination of experience matters when the stakes involve your freedom and your future.
If you have questions about self-defense or stand your ground laws in South Carolina, call the Greg McCollum Complete Legal Defense Team at (843) 626-5480. Consultations are confidential.
