Self-Defense Laws in Mississippi

Mississippi is a stand-your-ground state by statute. A person who is not the initial aggressor, is not engaged in unlawful activity, and is in a place where the person has a right to be 'shall have no duty to retreat before using deadly force' in the justified situations of § 97-3-15(1)(e) or (f), and a jury or judge may not consider the person's failure to retreat as evidence that the force was unnecessary, excessive or unreasonable (§ 97-3-15(4)).

A person who uses defensive force 'shall be presumed to have reasonably feared imminent death or great bodily harm' when the person against whom force was used was unlawfully and forcibly entering, or had entered, a dwelling, an occupied vehicle, a place of business or place of employment, or its immediate premises, and the defender knew or had reason to believe this (§ 97-3-15(3)). The presumption does not apply if the person against whom force was used has a right to be there or is a lawful resident or owner, if the defender is engaged in unlawful activity, or against a law enforcement officer performing official duties. The presumption also applies in civil cases; a court must award fees, costs and lost income to a defendant it finds acted in justified self-defense, and a person found not guilty on that basis is immune from civil suits for damages from the same conduct (§ 97-3-15(5)).