Virginia Model Jury Instructions – Criminal
CHAPTER 33 HOMICIDE

Instruction No. 33.800 Self-Defense—Defendant Without Fault

If you believe that the defendant was without fault in provoking or bringing on the [fight; difficulty], and you further believe that:

(1) he reasonably feared, under the circumstances as they appeared to him, that he was in imminent danger of being killed or that he was in imminent danger of great bodily harm; and

(2) he used no more force, under the circumstances as they appeared to him, than was reasonably necessary to protect himself from the perceived harm,

then the killing was in self-defense, and you shall find the defendant not guilty.

 

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