Hawaii Standard Criminal Jury Instructions
VOLUME I
7. SPECIFIC DEFENSES
7.01 SELF-DEFENSE
Justifiable use of force–commonly known as self-defense–is a defense to the charge of (specify charge and its included offenses). The burden is on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the force used by the defendant was not justifiable. If the prosecution, does not meet its burden then you must find the defendant not guilty.
[The use of force upon or toward another person is justified when a person reasonably believes that such force is immediately necessary to protect himself/herself on the present occasion against the use of unlawful force by the other person. The reasonableness of the defendant’s belief that the use of such protective force was immediately necessary shall be determined from the viewpoint of a reasonable person in the defendant’s position under the circumstances of which the defendant was aware or as the defendant reasonably believed them to be.]
[The use of deadly force upon or toward another person is justified when a person using such force reasonably believes that deadly force is immediately necessary to protect himself/herself on the present occasion against [death] [serious bodily injury] [kidnapping] [rape] [forcible sodomy]. The reasonableness of the defendant’s belief that the use of such protective force was immediately necessary shall be determined from the viewpoint of a reasonable person inthe defendant’s position under the circumstances of which the defendant was aware or as the defendant reasonably believed them to be.]
[The use of deadly force is not justifiable if the defendant, with the intent of causing death or serious bodily injury, provoked the use of force against himself/herself in the same encounter, or if the defendant knows that he/she can avoid the necessity of using such force with complete safety by retreating.]
“Force” means any bodily impact, restraint, or confinement, or the threat thereof.
“Unlawful force” means force which is used without the consent of the person against whom it is directed and the use of which would constitute an unjustifiable use of force [or deadly force].
[“Deadly force” means force which the actor uses with the intent of causing, or which he/she knows to create a substantial risk of causing, death or serious bodily injury.]
[Intentionally firing a firearm in the direction of another person or in the direction which the person is believed to be constitutes deadly force.]
[A threat to cause death or serious bodily injury, by the production of a weapon or otherwise, so long as the actor’s intent is limited to creating an apprehension that he/she will use deadly force if necessary, does not constitute deadly force.]
[“Bodily injury” means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.]
[“Serious bodily injury” means bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious permanent disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.]
[If and only if you find that the defendant was reckless in having a belief that he/she was justified in using self-protective force against another person, or that the defendant was reckless in acquiring or failing to acquire any knowledge or belief which was material to the justifiability of his/her use of force against the other person, then the use of such self-protective force is unavailable as a defense to the offense of (any offense the requisite mental state of which is either reckless or negligent conduct).]
[The use of force is not justifiable to resist an arrest that the defendant knows is being made by a police officer, even if the arrest is unlawful. On the other hand, if the police officer threatens to use or uses unlawful force, the law regarding use of protective force would apply.]
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