GEORGIA CRIMINAL JURY INSTRUCTIONS (G.C.J.I. 2003)

GA  3.02.14 Battered Person Syndrome

I charge you that if you find from the evidence that the defendant suffers from battered person syndrome, you may consider that evidence in connection with the defendant’s claim of self-defense. Such evidence relates to the issue of the reasonableness of the defendant’s belief that the use of force was immediately necessary, even though no use of force against the defendant may have been, in fact, imminent. The standard is whether the circumstances were such as would excite the fears of a reasonable person possessing the same or similar psychological and physical characteristics as the defendant and faced with the same circumstances surrounding the defendant at the time the defendant used force.

 

Smith v. State, 268 Ga. 196 (1997)

Bishop v. State, 271 Ga. 291 (1999)