Delaware Pattern Jury Instructions – Criminal
CHAPTER V. DEFENSES
A. Statutory defenses, Non-affirmative

§ 5.14 Justification – Use of Deadly Force

The defendant has asserted as a defense to [charge] that the defendant was justified in using deadly force in self-defense. The use of deadly force is justifiable if, at the time the force was used, the defendant believed that such force was necessary to protect the defendant against death, serious physical injury, kidnaping, or sexual intercourse compelled by force or threat.

The use of deadly force is not justifiable to resist an arrest, if the defendant knew or should have know was being made by a peace officer, regardless of whether the arrest was lawful.

The use of deadly force is not justifiable in either of the following circumstances:

the defendant, with the purpose of causing death or serious physical injury, provoked the use of force in the same encounter; or

the defendant knew that the necessity of using deadly force could have been avoided with complete safety by retreating, by surrendering possession of a thing to a person who claimed a right to such thing, or by complying with a demand that the defendant not perform an act, which the defendant was not legally obligated to perform.

However, the defendant is not obligated to retreat in or from the defendant’s dwelling, and the defendant is not obligated to retreat in or from the defendant’s place of work, unless the defendant was the initial aggressor.

A person who is justified in using force to assist a public officer: in performing the officer’s duties; or in making an arrest; or in preventing an escape, is not required to stop assisting the officer in the face of resistance or threatened resistance.

If, after considering all the evidence tending to support this defense, you find that the evidence raises a reasonable doubt in your mind about the defendant’s guilt, you must find the defendant not guilty of the crime. You must consider evidence of this defense along with all the other evidence in determining whether the State has satisfied its burden of proving the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

[230627]