Mortal force may be used only when one (a) believes he or she is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm that can only be prevented with the use of mortal force, and (b) has used all reasonable means available to retreat from the danger. One is not required to retreat if doing so would place him or her in danger, but if safe and unsafe means of retreat are available, one must “use reasonable avenue(s) of escape available to him or her” before resorting to mortal force.
The Teixeira court reviewed prior claims of self-defense and some themes emerged: Rarely will one approaching a victim be deemed to have sought reasonable means of escape. Similarly, firing on one fleeing is unlikely to amount to self-defense. On the other hand, if one is prevented from fleeing because of another’s threat of force, the requirements to establish self-defense may exits.
In short: in Massachusetts only in the most dire circumstances is one permitted to resort to self-defense.
