 When they accosted him on his own front porch, he used a less than lethal defense. This demonstrated to the police that he didn't want to use deadly force and made it more likely to be ruled by police as justifiable self-defense. And third, when the pepper spray didn't work, he wisely retreated inside his home where he had the legal protection of castle doctrine law. The legal threshold for use of deadly force inside your home is much lower than on your porch or on your own lawn.