AK · jury_instructions
Alaska Criminal Pattern Jury Instruction 1.56E
Aggravating Factors - Deliberate Cruelty 12.55.155(c)(2)
__________, the defendant in this case, was convicted in Count [Counts] ___ of the crime [crimes] of ____________. You now must determine if the following aggravating factor is proved beyond a reasonable doubt as to this count [these counts]:
The defendant's conduct during the commission of the offense manifested deliberate cruelty to another person.
“Deliberate cruelty” means conduct that involves gratuitously inflicted torture or violence. Deliberate cruelty does not include conduct that is merely a direct means to accomplish the crime. Deliberate cruelty occurs when pain – whether physical, psychological, or emotional – is inflicted “gratuitously” or as an end in itself.
To prove this aggravating factor, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant's conduct during the commission of the offense manifested deliberate cruelty to another person.
If you find from your consideration of all the evidence that this proposition has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, then you shall find the aggravating factor proved and mark the findings form YES.
If, on the other hand, you find from your consideration of all the evidence that this proposition has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, then you shall find the aggravating factor not proved and mark the findings form NO.
History
Alaska Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions 1.56E, dated Added 2007. Prepared by the Alaska Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions Committee; published by the Alaska Court System. The Alaska Court System states that these instructions "have not been approved or promulgated by any court or the Alaska Bar Association."
Provenance
- Source
- courts.alaska.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-24
- Edition
- 2026-09-24
- Content hash
a858da466cb733a8550d100af41d3db50928466aa18fdde8b70f3b1e019fa5d5
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