CALCRIM No. 891

The defendant is charged [in Count] with assault with intent to

commit mayhem [in violation of Penal Code section 220(a)].

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

prove that:

1. The defendant did an act that by its nature would directly and

probably result in the application of force to a person;

2. The defendant did that act willfully;

3. When the defendant acted, (he/she) was aware of facts that would

lead a reasonable person to realize that (his/her) act by its nature

would directly and probably result in the application of force to

someone;

4. When the defendant acted, (he/she) had the present ability to

apply force to a person;

AND

5. When the defendant acted, (he/she) intended to commit mayhem.

The defendant intended to commit mayhem if (he/she) intended to

unlawfully and maliciously:

[1. Remove a part of someone’s body(;/.)]

[OR]

[2. Disable or make useless a part of someone’s body by inflicting a

more than slight or temporary disability(;/.)]

[OR]

[3. Permanently disfigure someone(;/.)]

[OR]

[4. Cut or disable someone’s tongue(;/.)]

[OR]

[5. Slit someone’s (nose[,]/ear[,]/ [or] lip) (;/.)]

[OR]

[6. Put out someone’s eye or injure someone’s eye in a way that

would so significantly reduce (his/her) ability to see that the eye

would be useless for the purpose of ordinary sight.]

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

purpose.

Someone acts maliciously when he or she intentionally does a wrongful

act or when he or she acts with the unlawful intent to annoy or injure

someone else.

The terms application of force and apply force mean to touch in a

harmful or offensive manner. The slightest touching can be enough if it

is done in a rude or angry way. Making contact with another person,

including through his or her clothing, is enough. The touching does not

have to cause pain or injury of any kind.

[The touching can be done indirectly (by causing an object [or someone

else] to touch the other person/ [or] by touching something held by or

attached to the other person).]

[The People are not required to prove that the defendant actually

touched someone.]

No one needs to actually have been injured by the defendant’s act. But if

someone was injured, you may consider that fact, along with all the

other evidence, in deciding whether the defendant committed an assault[,

and if so, what kind of assault it was].

[A disfiguring injury may be permanent even if it can be repaired by

medical procedures.]

New January 2006; Revised April 2010, February 2025