Criminal Jury Instructions for the District of Columbia
VI. Defenses
Scope
E. Self-Defense, Defense of Others, Defense of Property, Claim of Right

Instruction 9.503 SELF-DEFENSE—NO DUTY TO RETREAT BEFORE USING DEADLY FORCE

The law does not require a person to retreat or consider retreating from a threat of bodily harm. If you find that [name of defendant] failed to retreat or to consider retreating from [name of decedent/complainant], that failure does not prevent you from finding that [name of defendant] acted in self-defense. However, in deciding whether [name of defendant] actually and reasonably at the time of the incident believed that s/he was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm and that deadly force was necessary to repel that danger, you may consider, along with any other evidence, whether the [name of defendant] could have safely retreated from [name of decedent/complainant] but did not.

 

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