The law for self-defense and defense of others requires that someone “must actually and reasonably believe in the necessity of defending oneself from imminent danger of death or great bodily injury.” People v. Thinn, D074397, at *10-11 (Cal. Ct. App. July 23, 2020).
Does that apply to a vampire asleep in their coffin during daylight hours?
In the classic Hammer film, Horror of Dracula, Dr. Van Helsing kills both a bride of Dracula and Jonathan Harker, who had been transformed into a vampire, while they were asleep in their respective coffins. Was that justified homicide?
Determining the answer requires understanding self-defense. Case law explains:
“Self-defense is perfect or imperfect. For perfect self-defense, one must actually and reasonably believe in the necessity of defending oneself from imminent danger of death or great bodily injury. [Citation.] A killing committed in perfect self-defense is neither murder nor manslaughter; it is justifiable homicide.” (People v. Randle (2005) 35 Cal.4th 987, 994.) Although a person acting in imperfect self-defense “also actually believes he must defend himself from imminent danger of death or great bodily injury,” that belief is unreasonable. (Ibid.) “Imperfect self-defense mitigates, rather than justifies, homicide; it does so by negating the element of malice.” (Ibid.; see People v. Simon (2016) 1 Cal.5th 98, 132 (Simon).)
People v. Thinn, D074397, at *10-11 (Cal. Ct. App. July 23, 2020)
The crux of the issue is whether Dr. Van Helsing believed that he needed to defend himself against imminent peril to protect his life. This is problematic with a sleeping vampire, because they are asleep. Moreover, self-defense cannot be asserted if the “defender” was the one who created the dangerous situation, such as committing a felony. People v. Greer, B287247, at *6 (Cal. Ct. App. Feb. 20, 2019). The “sleeping vampire” situation could be one of an imperfect self-defense, where the use of deadly force was unreasonable. People v. Villanueva, 169 Cal.App.4th 41, 50 n.7 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008).
If vampires were considered “human” under the law, Dr. Van Helsing has some serious problems in making an effective self-defense argument. First, Dr. Van Helsing entered Dracula’s castle without permission, so he is trespassing. Secondly, he killed two vampires while they were asleep. The fear of imminent death is highly questionable under such circumstances. Dr. Van Helsing would at best have an imperfect self-defense argument, provided he could get around the trespassing issue. One argument would be he was searching for his friend Jonathan Harker as his reason for entering the castle.
The counter to whether Van Helsing’s actions were justified is the fact vampires are undead creatures that murder humans in their sleep for food. Van Helsing could argue that the vampires were not human, thus not persons under the law. As such, the good doctor was eradicating a dangerous animal that was a risk to human life, so the issue of self-defense is irrelevant when slaying sleeping vampires.
