Bindinglaw

FL · jury_instructions

Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Crim.) 8.5

FELONY BATTERY

activein force · 2026-07-29 – presentact-effective-date

§ 784.041(1), Fla. Stat.

To prove the crime of Felony Battery, the State must prove the following two elements beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. (Defendant) actually and intentionally touched or struck (victim) against [his] [her] will; and

2. (Defendant) caused (victim) great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement.

Give only if applicable. Great bodily harm. Wheeler v. State, 203 So. 3d 1007 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016).

“Great bodily harm” means great as distinguished from slight, trivial, minor, or moderate harm, and as such does not include mere bruises.

Give only if applicable. Fey v. State, 125 So. 3d 828 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013).

An intentional touching or striking includes situations where a defendant knows that a touch or strike is substantially certain to result from his or her act.

Give only if applicable. Clark v. State, 783 So. 2d 967 (Fla. 2001).

A battery may be found as a result of the intentional touching or intentional striking of something other than the actual body of the person. However, the object that is touched or struck must have such an intimate connection with the person that it is to be regarded as a part or as an extension of the person. [For example, in cases where a person intentionally drove into another occupied vehicle, it is for you to determine whether the vehicle that was struck should be considered as a part or as an extension of the person inside that vehicle. This determination may include consideration about whether the person was “touched” through the force of impact by being jostled or otherwise impacted through the transfer of energy from the collision.]

Lesser Included Offenses

FELONY BATTERY — 784.041(1)

CATEGORY ONE

CATEGORY TWO

FLA. STAT.

INS. NO.

Battery

784.03

8.3

None

Provenance

Source
floridabar.org
Retrieved
2026-08-18
Edition
2026-08-18
Content hash
e1a424a58e09fa3167496bfa501f9dccf91cd549932e207a17cd29b11788f791
View the official source →

The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.

Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.

Coverage · API docs

Bindinglaw

Point-in-time US law with the receipt attached. Source URL, retrieval time, content hash, and validity dates on every answer.

curl api.binding.law/v1/law/coverage

© 2026 binding.law · a Jubal, Inc. productAttorneys and firms never pay. Ever.