For our readers who graduated law school in the past 30 years, you probably all remember nostalgically the famous Torts "spring gun" case Katko v. Briney.  For those who aren't familiar with the case (or you lawyers who tucked away your Torts knowledge after the bar exam), it was a case about an Iowa farmer who, frustrated with a string of breakins of his unoccupied farmhouse, rigged the door with a 20-gauge spring-loaded shotgun to shoot the legs of any unwanted intruders.  In 1967, Katko and a buddy, thinking the building to be abandoned, entered the farmhouse to collect some antique bottles.  The shotgun went off and blew away much of Katko's leg.  Katko sued the farmer for $30,000 and won, and the case stands for the idea that a landowner may not set deadly traps simply to protect his property.

Had Californian Wesley Jones read this case, maybe he would have thought twice about rigging a grenade to his vacation home door.  He apparently did not, and is now dealing much more serious  - and criminal - consequences than his Iowa farmer counterpart.  Jones's wife heard the pin drop when she opened the booby-trapped door, but fortunately the grenade did not detonate.  Jones originally faced an attempted murder charge, but pleaded guilty to lesser offenses and was sentenced to eight years for burglary, assault, and weapons charges.  Read the AP story here.