Iowa Code » Chapter 704 — FORCE — REASONABLE OR DEADLY — DEFENSES

Iowa Code § 704.2A

Justifiable use of deadly force

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section IA-LEGlegis.iowa.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

1. For purposes of this chapter, a person is presumed to reasonably believe that deadly force is necessary to avoid injury or risk to one’s life or safety or the life or safety of another in either of the following circumstances:\n\nTue Dec 09 21:56:47 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 704 (23, 0) §704.2A, FORCE — REASONABLE OR DEADLY — DEFENSES 2\n\n a. The person against whom force is used, at the time the force is used, is doing any of the following: (1) Unlawfully entering by force or stealth the dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using force, or has unlawfully entered by force or stealth and remains within the dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using force. (2) Unlawfully removing or is attempting to unlawfully remove another person against the other person’s will from the dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using force. b. The person using force knows or has reason to believe that any of the conditions set forth in paragraph “a” are occurring. 2. The presumption set forth in subsection 1 does not apply if, at the time force is used, any of the following circumstances are present: a. The person using defensive force is engaged in a criminal offense, is attempting to escape from the scene of a criminal offense that the person has committed, or is using the dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle to further a criminal offense. b. The person sought to be removed is a child or grandchild or is otherwise in the lawful custody or under the lawful guardianship of the person against whom force is used. c. The person against whom force is used is a peace officer who has entered or is attempting to enter a dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle in the lawful performance of the peace officer’s official duties. d. The person against whom the force is used has the right to be in, or is a lawful resident of, the dwelling, place of business or employment, or occupied vehicle of the person using force, and a protective or no-contact order is not in effect against the person against whom the force is used. 2017 Acts, ch 69, §39; 2018 Acts, ch 1026, §170

\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2020–2024 · leading case: State of Iowa v. Quarzone Erikey Martin
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
State of Iowa v. Quarzone Erikey Martin (2020) iowactapp · cites it 6× “Martin elected not to assert a defense using Iowa Code section 704.2A, but he argued he acted in self-defense after the alleged victims began beating him with their fists and driving the car in an uncontrolled manner.”
State of Iowa v. Michael Lang (2024) iowactapp · cites it 5× “” At a pretrial hearing, the State pointed to Iowa Code section 704.2A, the “stand your ground” statute enacted in 2017, which permits individuals to use deadly force to defend themselves or another if the individual is lawfully present and has not engaged in illegal activity.”
State of Iowa v. Lasondra A. Johnson (2024) iowa “The second paragraph restates § 704.2A(2)(a), which states that the reasonable-use- of-deadly-force presumption is unavailable if the defendant was “engaged in a criminal offense.”
— Iowa Code § 704.2A(1) — 2 cases
State of Iowa v. Quarzone Erikey Martin (2020) iowactapp “Martin elected not to assert a defense using Iowa Code section 704.2A, but he argued he acted in self-defense after the alleged victims began beating him with their fists and driving the car in an uncontrolled manner.”
State of Iowa v. Michael Lang (2024) iowactapp “” At a pretrial hearing, the State pointed to Iowa Code section 704.2A, the “stand your ground” statute enacted in 2017, which permits individuals to use deadly force to defend themselves or another if the individual is lawfully present and has not engaged in illegal activity.”
— Iowa Code § 704.2A(2)(a) — 1 case
State of Iowa v. Lasondra A. Johnson (2024) iowa “The second paragraph restates § 704.2A(2)(a), which states that the reasonable-use- of-deadly-force presumption is unavailable if the defendant was “engaged in a criminal offense.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.