Section 2721 | CALCRIM (Jury Instructions)

[The People are not required to prove that the defendant actually
touched someone.]
No one needs to actually have been injured by 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 deadly weapon is any object, instrument, or weapon [that is inherently
deadly or dangerous or one] that is used in such a way that it is capable
of causing and likely to cause death or great bodily injury.]
[An object is inherently deadly if it is deadly or dangerous in the
ordinary use for which it was designed.]
[In deciding whether an object is a deadly weapon, consider all the
surrounding circumstances.]
[Great bodily injury means significant or substantial physical injury. It is
an injury that is greater than minor or moderate harm.]
[The term (great bodily injury/deadly weapon) is defined in another
instruction.]
A person is confined in a state prison if he or she is (confined in
<insert name of institution from Pen. Code,
§ 5003>/committed to the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation[, Division of Juvenile Justice,]) by an order made
according to law[, regardless of both the purpose of the (confinement/
commitment) and the validity of the order directing the (confinement/
commitment), until a judgment of a competent court setting aside the
order becomes final]. [A person may be confined in a state prison even if,
at the time of the offense, he or she is confined in a local correctional
institution pending trial or is temporarily outside the prison walls or
boundaries for any permitted purpose, including but not limited to
serving on a work detail.] [However, a prisoner who has been released
on parole is not confined in a state prison.]
New January 2006; Revised August 2016, September 2019, September 2020, March
2022
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give an instruction defining the elements of the
crime.
If there is sufficient evidence of self-defense or defense of another, the court has a
sua sponte duty to instruct on the defense. Give bracketed element 6 and any
CRIMES AGAINST GOVERNMENT
CALCRIM No. 2721
613

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Deadly Weapon Defined. People v. Aguilar (1997) 16 Cal.4th 1023, 1028–1029
[68 Cal.Rptr.2d 655, 945 P.2d 1204].
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Least Touching. People v. Myers (1998) 61 Cal.App.4th 328, 335 [71 Cal.Rptr.2d
518] [citing People v. Rocha (1971) 3 Cal.3d 893, 899–900, fn. 12 [92 Cal.Rptr.
172, 479 P.2d 372]].
•
Confined in State Prison Defined. Pen. Code, § 4504.
•
Underlying Conviction Need Not Be Valid. Wells v. California (9th Cir. 1965)
352 F.2d 439, 442.
•
Inherently Deadly Defined. People v. Perez (2018) 4 Cal.5th 1055, 1065 [232
Cal.Rptr.3d 51, 416 P.3d 42]; People v. Aguilar (1997) 16 Cal.4th 1023,
1028–1029 [68 Cal.Rptr.2d 655, 945 P.2d 1204].
•
Examples of Noninherently Deadly Weapon. People v. Aledamat (2019) 8
Cal.5th 1, 6 [251 Cal.Rptr.3d 371, 447 P.3d 277] [box cutter]; People