People v. Guenther
Supreme Court of Colorado
740 P.2d 971 (1987)
After three men from a nearby party confronted and challenged David Guenther (defendant) outside his home, they briefly left but, according to Guenther and his wife Pam, later returned and grabbed Pam when she opened the door, prompting Guenther to fire four shots that wounded two men and killed a third, Josslyn; Guenther was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault, and moved pretrial to dismiss under Colorado's statutory immunity provision protecting occupants who use force against unlawful home intruders. The trial court dismissed the charges, apparently requiring the prosecution to disprove immunity beyond a reasonable doubt, and the prosecution appealed.
Whether a defendant may raise Colorado's statutory home-intrusion immunity defense both through a pretrial motion to dismiss and, if that motion fails, as an affirmative defense at trial, and what burden of proof applies at each stage.