Conn. Crim. Jury Instr. 2.3-5

A person acts with “criminal negligence” with respect to a result or to a circumstance described

by a statute defining an offense when (he/she) fails to perceive 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 the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a

reasonable person would observe in the situation.

The failure to perceive the risk must be a gross deviation from the standard of a reasonable

person. 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 failing to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk, and, on the other hand, what a

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

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