Conn. Crim. Jury Instr. 2.3-4

A person acts “recklessly” with respect to a result or to a circumstance described by a statute

defining an offense when the defendant is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and

unjustifiable risk that such result will occur or that such circumstance exists. The risk must be of

such nature and degree that disregarding it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of

conduct that a reasonable person would observe in the situation. The standard of conduct of a

reasonable person in the same situation as the defendant is the doing of something that a

reasonably prudent person would do under the circumstances or omitting to do what a reasonably

prudent person would not do under the circumstances.

A gross deviation is a great or substantial deviation, not just a slight or moderate deviation.

There must be a great or substantial difference between, on the one hand, the defendant’s

conduct in disregarding a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and, on the other hand, what a

reasonable person would have done under the circumstances. Whether a risk is substantial and

unjustifiable is a question of fact for you to determine under all the circumstances.