Massachusetts Superior Court Criminal Practice Jury Instructions (MCLE)
CHAPTER 5 INSTRUCTIONS ON DEFENSE AND JUSTIFICATION
§ 5.4 SELF DEFENSE AND DEFENSE OF ANOTHER

§ 5.4.2 Defense of Another Instruction from Supreme Judicial Court’s Model Jury Instructions on Homicide (2018)

A person is not guilty of any crime if he/she acted in proper defense of another. It is the Commonwealth’s burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in proper defense of another. The defendant does not have the burden to prove that he/she acted in proper defense of another. If the Commonwealth fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in proper defense of another, then you must find the defendant not guilty.

The Commonwealth may satisfy its burden of proving that the defendant did not act in proper defense of another by proving any one of the following three propositions beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. The defendant did not actually believe that the other person was in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm from which the other person could save him/herself only by using deadly force. You need not determine whether the other person actually believed him/herself to be in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm; you must focus instead on whether the defendant actually had that belief.

2. A reasonable person in the circumstances known to the defendant would not have believed that the other person was in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm from which the other person could save him/herself only by using deadly force. You need not determine whether a reasonable person in the circumstances known to the other person would have believed him/herself to be in immediate danger of death or serious bodily harm; you must focus instead on what a reasonable person in the circumstances known to the defendant would have believed.

3. A reasonable person in the circumstances known to the defendant would not have believed that the other person was justified in using deadly force to protect him/herself.

Deadly or Nondeadly Force: Deadly force is force that is intended to or likely to cause death or serious bodily harm. Nondeadly force, by contrast, is force that is not intended to or likely to cause death or serious bodily harm. If the defendant, based on the circumstances known to thedefendant, had reasonable grounds to believe (1) that the other person was in immediate danger of harm from which the other person could save him/herself only by using nondeadly force, and (2) that the other person was justified in using nondeadly force to protect him/herself, then the defendant had the right to use whatever nondeadly means were reasonably necessary to avert the threatened harm, but he/she could use no more force than was reasonable and proper under the circumstances. You must consider the proportionality of the force used to the threat of immediate harm in assessing the reasonableness of nondeadly force.

 

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