VA · jury_instructions
Va. Model Jury Instr. Crim. No. 18.100
Discharging Firearms Within Occupied Building
The defendant is charged with the crime of discharging a firearm within an occupied building.
The Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the following elements of that
crime:
(1) That the defendant discharged a firearm within a building occupied by one or more persons;
and
(2) That the firearm was discharged in such a manner as to endanger the life or lives of such
person or persons; and
(3) That the act was done with malice.
If you find from the evidence that the Commonwealth has proved beyond a reasonable doubt
each of the above elements of the crime as charged, then you shall find the defendant guilty of
maliciously discharging a firearm within an occupied building [but you shall not fix the punishment
until your verdict has been returned and further evidence has been heard by you].
If you find from the evidence that the Commonwealth has proved beyond a reasonable doubt
each of the first two elements of the crime as charged, but that the act was done unlawfully and
not maliciously, then you shall find the defendant guilty of unlawfully discharging a firearm within
an occupied building [but you shall not fix the punishment until your verdict has been returned and
further evidence has been heard by you].
If you find that the Commonwealth has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt either or
both of the first two elements of the crime, then you shall find the defendant not guilty.
History
Virginia Model Jury Instructions – Criminal, Release 26, October 2025. The unannotated set, posted by the Supreme Court of Virginia at vacourts.gov; the book states that it is made available with the permission of the publisher, Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.
Provenance
- Source
- vacourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-11
- Edition
- crim-2025-10-01
- Content hash
5099d23cecd29ae28d34923974d748b96e6413f6b27abdda6272cae3dd7183bd
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