Maine § 17-A §108 Physical force in defense of a person

Maine Statutes

§ 17-A §108 — Physical force in defense of a person

Maine § 17-A §108

Title 17-AMAINE CRIMINAL CODE

Part 1GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Ch. 5DEFENSES AND AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES; JUSTIFICATION

This text of Maine § 17-A §108 (Physical force in defense of a person) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 17-A §108 (2026).

Text

1.A person is justified in using a reasonable degree of nondeadly force upon another person in order to defend the person or a 3rd person from what the person reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful, nondeadly force by such other person, and the person may use a degree of such force that the person reasonably believes to be necessary for such purpose. However, such force is not justifiable if: 1-A. A person is not justified in using nondeadly force against another person who that person knows or reasonably should know is a law enforcement officer attempting to effect an arrest or detention, regardless of whether the arrest or detention is legal. A person is justified in using the degree of nondeadly force the person reasonably believes is necessary to defend the person or a

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

1.
A person is justified in using a reasonable degree of nondeadly force upon another person in order to defend the person or a 3rd person from what the person reasonably believes to be the imminent use of unlawful, nondeadly force by such other person, and the person may use a degree of such force that the person reasonably believes to be necessary for such purpose. However, such force is not justifiable if:
1-A.
A person is not justified in using nondeadly force against another person who that person knows or reasonably should know is a law enforcement officer attempting to effect an arrest or detention, regardless of whether the arrest or detention is legal. A person is justified in using the degree of nondeadly force the person reasonably believes is necessary to defend the person or a 3rd person against a law enforcement officer who, in effecting an arrest or detention, uses nondeadly force not justified under section 107, subsection 1.
2.
A person is justified in using deadly force upon another person:
3.
A person is not justified in using force against another based solely on the discovery of, knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or perceived gender, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation, including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted nonforcible romantic or sexual advance toward the person or in which the person and victim dated or had a romantic or sexual relationship.

Legislative History

PL 1975, c. 499, §1 (NEW). PL 1975, c. 740, §34 (AMD). PL 1979, c. 701, §19 (AMD). PL 1989, c. 878, §B15 (AMD). PL 1997, c. 351, §1 (AMD). PL 2007, c. 173, §24 (AMD). PL 2019, c. 462, §2 (AMD).