CALCRIM No. 2624

(Pen. Code, § 140(a))

The defendant is charged [in Count] with (using force/ [or]

threatening to use force) against a witness [in violation of Penal Code

section 140(a)].

To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must

prove that:

1. <insert name/description of person allegedly targeted>

gave (assistance/ [or] information) to a (law enforcement officer/

public prosecutor) in a (criminal case/juvenile court case);

[AND]

2. The defendant willfully (used force/ [or] threatened to use force

or violence against <insert name/description of person

allegedly targeted>/ [or] threatened to take, damage, or destroy

the property of <insert name/description of person

allegedly targeted>) because (he/she) had given that (assistance/

[or] information)(;/.)

<Give the following language if the violation is based on a threat>

[3. The defendant consciously disregarded a substantial risk that

(his/her) conduct would be understood as [a] threat[s];

AND

4. A reasonable person in a similar situation with similar knowledge

would interpret the threat, in light of the context and

surrounding circumstances, as a serious expression of intent to

commit an act of unlawful (force or violence/taking, damage or

destruction of property).]

Someone commits an act willfully when he or she does it willingly or on

purpose.

[An officer or employee of (a/an) (local police department[,]/ [or] sheriff’s

office[,]/ [or] <insert title of agency of peace offıcer

enumerated in Pen. Code, § 13519(b)>) is a law enforcement officer.]

[A lawyer employed by (a/an/the) (district attorney’s office[,]/ [or]

Attorney General’s office[,]/ [or] city (prosecutor’s/attorney’s) office) to

prosecute cases is a public prosecutor.]

[The People do not need to prove that the threat was communicated to

<insert name/description of person allegedly targeted> or that

(he/she) was aware of the threat.]

New January 2006; Revised August 2012, March 2021, March 2024