A Montana man is accused of setting a trap and blasting a shotgun into his garage, killing a German exchange student. A Minnesota man was convicted of lying in wait in his basement for two teens and killing them during a break-in. The Associated Press reports that the two cases extend the “stand your ground” debate to ask if laws that allow private citizens to protect their property also let them set a trap and wait for someone to kill.
“We don’t want it to be easy to be able to prosecute people. But we want to be able to hold individuals accountable when they have stepped outside the bounds of society,” said David LaBahn the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. The Montana and Minnesota cases involve homeowners who had been burglarized and said they were afraid of it happening again. Prosecutors say they lured intruders into fatal encounters.