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Legras might have fared even worse in the U.S. Almost all U.S. law schools teach the common law doctrine that "spring guns," booby-trapped weapons that fire at an intruder, are excessively violent when used to protect empty premises. In a 1971 Iowa case, Katko vs. Briney, the State Supreme Court upheld an award of $30,000 in damages to a man who was injured by a spring gun when he broke into the upstairs bedroom of an abandoned farmhouse. In a 1974 case, San Anselmo, Calif, Homeowner Don Luis Ceballos was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon when his spring gun shot a teen-ager who tried to steal some musical instruments from his garage.
Generally, U.S. law permits "reasonable force" in self-defense, which usually means that life-threatening measures may not be used to protect property, only people. Indeed even when he is at home, a citizen takes a risk if he attacks a burglar; in such cases, the courts may consider whether the intruder was a fearsome marauder or just an unarmed teen-ager—and even whether the incident occurred by day or night. Explains Boston Criminal Attorney Joseph J. Balliro: "If you are in bed and the lights are out, and a man comes through the window and says to you, 'Keep quiet or I'll kill you,' you have a right to kill him. After all, how can you tell whether or not he's bluffing? But if the lights are on, it might be different."
Distinguishing between excessive force and legitimate self-defense can be difficult. In Cordele, Ga. (pop. 12,100), for example, the local prosecutor did not see fit to bring a charge of manslaughter against a store owner who responded to small thefts from his cigarette machine by booby-trapping it after business hours with dynamite, an act that resulted in the death of a teen-aged tamperer. But a court awarded civil damages to the boy's mother. Traditionally, though, juries asked to consider burglars' rights sympathize with the property owners rather than the intruders. It may be only a matter of time before a dramatic case stirs passions on behalf of self-defense in the U.S. as the Legras case has in France.