Legal Elements of Self Defense
Below is a video of Andrew Branca's interview on Stand-Your-Ground, self-defense law, and gun ownership in America from February 28, 2014, conducted in the Washington DC Bureau of N24, a prominent German television news station. In this informative video, Branca reiterates the five necessary ingredients, or conditions, for validating a self-defense claim:
The victim must be innocent;
The threat must be imminent;
The defensive force used must be proportional to the threat;
The reaction must be reasonable;
The victim must retreat if it can be done safely (in states that have a "duty to retreat" requirement.)
The major problem with "duty to retreat" is that retreat probably cannot be carried out safely; often times, the risk is greater when the victim tries to flee. There is no "duty to retreat" in the majority of states; hence, most states are considered "stand your ground" states.
However, the other four conditions apply everywhere!
/fl