Self-Defense Laws in Maine

Maine has a duty to retreat. A person is not justified in using deadly force in self-defense or defense of a third person if the person knows that the person or a third person can, with complete safety, 'Retreat from the encounter, except that the person or the 3rd person is not required to retreat if the person or the 3rd person is in the person's dwelling place and was not the initial aggressor' — or can, with complete safety, surrender property to a person asserting a colorable claim of right, or comply with a demand to abstain from an act the person is not obliged to perform. Deadly force is also not justified for a person who provoked the use of unlawful deadly force with intent to cause physical harm.

No duty to retreat in one's own dwelling place unless the person was the initial aggressor (§ 108(2)(C)(3)(a)). A person may use deadly force when the person reasonably believes another has entered or is attempting to enter a dwelling place, or has surreptitiously remained within it, without a license or privilege, and that deadly force is necessary to prevent the infliction of bodily injury on the person or a third person present in the dwelling place (§ 108(2)(B)). A person in possession or control of a dwelling place (or licensed or privileged to be there) may also use deadly force when the person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent or terminate a criminal trespass by someone who has entered or is attempting to enter (or surreptitiously remained) and is committing or likely to commit some other crime in the dwelling place — but only after first demanding that the trespasser stop and the trespasser fails to immediately comply, unless making the demand would be dangerous (§ 104(3)-(4)). Deadly force is also justified to prevent an attempt to commit arson on premises (§ 104(2)).