CA · jury_instructions
CALCRIM No. 851
Testimony on Intimate Partner Battering and Its Effects:
Offered by the Defense
Y ou have heard testimony from <insert name of expert>
regarding the effect of (battered women’s syndrome/intimate partner
battering/ <insert other description used by expert for
syndrome>).
’s <insert name of expert> testimony about (battered
women’s syndrome/intimate partner battering/ <insert other
description used by expert for syndrome>) is not evidence that the
defendant committed any of the crimes charged against (him/her).
Y ou may consider this evidence only in deciding whether the defendant
actually believed that (he/she) needed to defend (himself/herself) against
an immediate threat of great bodily injury or death, and whether that
belief was reasonable or unreasonable.
When deciding whether the defendant’s belief was reasonable or
unreasonable, consider all the circumstances as they were known by or
appeared to the defendant. Also consider what conduct would appear to
be necessary to a reasonable person in a similar situation with similar
knowledge.
New January 2006
Provenance
- Source
- courts.ca.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-08-20
- Edition
- calcrim-2019
- Content hash
c5945231c28992d704a46a34981689b1461d204ad73494f7dddf757c4cff20f1
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