CALCRIM No. 925. Battery Causing Serious Bodily Injury (Pen. Code, §§ 242, 243(d))
Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (2025 edition)
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E. BATTERY
(i) Causing Injury
925.Battery Causing Serious Bodily Injury (Pen. Code, §§ 242,
243(d))
The defendant is charged [in Count ] with battery causing serious
bodily injury [in violation of Penal Code section 243(d)].
To prove that the defendant is guilty of this charge, the People must
prove that:
1. The defendant willfully [and unlawfully] touched
<insert name> in a harmful or offensive manner;
[AND]
2. <insert name> suffered serious bodily injury as a
result of the force used(;/.)
<Give element 3 when instructing on self-defense, defense of another, or
reasonable discipline.>
[AND
3. The defendant did not act (in self-defense/ [or] in defense of
someone else/ [or] while reasonably disciplining a child).]
Someone commits an act willfully when he or she does it willingly or on
purpose. It is not required that he or she intend to break the law, hurt
someone else, or gain any advantage.
Making contact with another person, including through his or her
clothing, is enough to commit a battery.
[A serious bodily injury means a serious impairment of physical
condition. Such an injury may include[, but is not limited to]: (loss of
consciousness/ concussion/ bone fracture/ protracted loss or impairment
of function of any bodily member or organ/ a wound requiring extensive
suturing/ [and] serious disfigurement).]
[<insert description of injury when appropriate; see Bench
Notes> is a serious bodily injury.]
[The touching can be done indirectly (by causing an object [or someone
else] to touch the other person/ [or] by touching something held by or
attached to the other person).]
661
New January 2006; Revised February 2013, February 2025
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 3, the bracketed
words “and unlawfully” in element 1, and any appropriate defense instructions. (See
CALCRIM Nos. 3470-3477.)
If there is sufficient evidence of reasonable parental discipline, the court has a sua
sponte duty to instruct on the defense. Give bracketed element 3, the bracketed
words “and unlawfully” in element 1, and CALCRIM No. 3405, Parental Right to
Punish a Child.
Whether the complaining witness suffered a serious bodily injury is a question for
the jury to determine. If the defendant disputes that the injury suffered was a serious
bodily injury, use the first bracketed paragraph. If the parties stipulate that the injury
suffered was a serious bodily injury, use the second bracketed paragraph.
Give the bracketed paragraph on indirect touching if relevant.
AUTHORITY
• Elements. Pen. Code, §§ 242, 243(d); see People v. Martinez (1970) 3
Cal.App.3d 886, 889 [83 Cal.Rptr. 914] [harmful or offensive touching].
• “Serious Bodily Injury” Defined. Pen. Code, § 243(f)(4); People v. Burroughs
(1984) 35 Cal.3d 824, 831 [201 Cal.Rptr. 319, 678 P.2d 894] [serious bodily
injury and great bodily injury are essentially equivalent elements], disapproved
on other grounds in People v. Blakeley (2000) 23 Cal.4th 82, 89 [96 Cal.Rptr.2d
451, 999 P.2d 675]; People v. Taylor (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 11, 25, fn. 4 [12
Cal.Rptr.3d 693].
• “Willful” Defined. Pen. Code, § 7(1); People v. Lara (1996) 44 Cal.App.4th 102,
107 [51 Cal.Rptr.2d 402].
• Defense of Parental Discipline. People v. Whitehurst (1992) 9 Cal.App.4th 1045,
1051 [12 Cal.Rptr.2d 33].
• Medical Treatment Not an Element. People v. Wade (2012) 204 Cal.App.4th
1142, 1148-1150 [139 Cal.Rptr.3d 529].
• Contact With Object Held in Another Person’s Hand May Constitute Touching.
In re B.L. (2015) 239 Cal.App.4th 1491, 1495-1497 [192 Cal.Rptr.3d 154].
• Hitting a Vehicle Occupied by Another Person May Constitute Touching. People
v. Dealba (2015) 242 Cal.App.4th 1142, 1144, 1153 [195 Cal.Rptr.3d 848].
LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSES
• Assault. Pen. Code, § 240.
CALCRIM No. 925 ASSAULTIVE AND BATTERY CRIMES
662
• Battery. Pen. Code, § 242.
Assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury is not a lesser
included offense. (Pen. Code, § 245; In re Jose H. (2000) 77 Cal.App.4th 1090,
1095 [92 Cal.Rptr.2d 228].)
SECONDARY SOURCES
1 Witkin & Epstein, California Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Crimes Against the
Person, §§ 13-15, 39.
5 Millman, Sevilla & Tarlow, California Criminal Defense Practice, Ch. 91,
Sentencing, § 91.35 (Matthew Bender).
6 Millman, Sevilla & Tarlow, California Criminal Defense Practice, Ch. 142, Crimes
Against the Person, § 142.12 (Matthew Bender).
ASSAULTIVE AND BATTERY CRIMES CALCRIM No. 925
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© Judicial Council of California.
