California: Would-be robber shot and killed: "Police say a man who was shot fatally in Paramount Monday evening was a would-be robber. The would-be robber entered a mini-mart on the 7000 block of Somerset Boulevard around 5:30 last night armed with a handgun and confronted the employee behind the cash register, said Los Angles County sheriff's Sgt. Don Manumaleuna. After demanding money, the man slowly backed away toward the door when another employee came from the back of the store, Manumaleuna said. As the man turned to look at the other employee, the one behind the register grabbed a gun and shot the intruder, who stumbled out into the parking lot before collapsing, Manumaleuna said."


Colorado: A case of life or self-defense: "When Gary Lee Hill stood on the porch with a loaded rifle, he was afraid the people outside his home would attack him again, the jury in his murder trial was told. That left them no choice, the jury foreman said in an e-mail defending last week's harshly criticized verdict .... 'The fact that the group was not leaving and continued to engage Mr. Hill,' the foreman wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette, 'led us to determine that it was reasonable for Mr. Hill to believe that the group of assailants might use physical force against him.' Hill, 24, was found not guilty in a Colorado Springs courtroom Dec. 14 of first-degree murder in the shooting death of John David Knott, 19. Knott was shot in the back while sitting in a car outside Hill's home. "