Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!oakhill!joeh
From: joeh@oakhill.sps.mot.com (Joe Hollinger)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: HELP!
Message-ID: <1991Jan20.011700.4146@oakhill.sps.mot.com>
Date: 20 Jan 91 01:17:00 GMT
References: <1991Jan19.052458.7449@wam.umd.edu> <1991Jan19.075940.26652@zoo.toronto.edu> <55124@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Reply-To: joeh@oakhill.UUCP (Joe Hollinger)
Organization: Motorola Inc., Austin, Texas
Lines: 27

In article <55124@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> visjames@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu writes:
>In article <1991Jan19.075940.26652@zoo.toronto.edu>, henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes...
>>In article <1991Jan19.052458.7449@wam.umd.edu> bander@wam.umd.edu (Nicholas Andrew Vargish) writes:
>>>My Project is: wire my bedroom window^s screen for 110 volts.  I could
>>>rig a detector and flash camera for less, but at this point, money is
>>>no object, and time is critical...
>> 
>>I would really recommend the detector and flash camera instead.  Having
>>your window pissed on is a damn nuisance, to be sure, but being sued or
>>charged with assault is a much more serious nuisance.  Laying physically
>>dangerous traps for trespassers -- which is more or less what you're
>>proposing, with the nature of the trespass being a little unusual -- is
>>highly illegal, regardless of provocation.  Use of deadly or potentially
>>deadly force in self-defence is legal only when you have immediate reason
>>to fear death or maiming.  We're talking years in prison here.
>
>   Wrong-o.  If it's wired properly it should severly shock the person and
>throw them back from the window.  These are AC systems.  The onces that kill
>are DC systems.



Deadly force or not ( and I doubt you would have little difficulty finding
and expert witness to testify that house current can kill -or- to put it 
another way, do you bath with your radio? ) a trap of this type could still
be an actionable battery. That could wind up costing big bucks in civil
liability. I'd really recommend some other solution.