Opinion ID: 1423118
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: iithe self-defense instruction

Text: Defendant assigns the giving of Instruction No. 23 on self-defense as erroneous in several respects. We perceive no error. The Instruction was couched substantially in the language of C.R.S.1963, 40-2-13, 14 and 15, and therefore proper. Vigil v. People, 143 Colo. 328, 353 P.2d 82. Wherever the statutory wording was changed in the Instruction, the effect is to ameliorate for defendant the import of the statute. Defendant argues that Instruction No. 23 was erroneous on the ground of surplusage, because it contained the full statutory definition of justifiable homicide stated in C.R.S.1963, 40-2-13, which includes language inapplicable to the evidence in this case. However, the instructions given must be considered as a whole. The instructions in their entirety properly defined and limited the isues so that the jury could not have been misled, and hence, the surplusage was not error. Armijo v. People, 134 Colo. 344, 304 P.2d 633. We note that the only change from the verbatim text of C.R.S.1963, 40-2-13 was the Instruction's addition of the word apparently before the phrase necessary self-defense. This modification in the definition of justifiable homicide militates in defendant's favor. Defendant also contends that Instruction No. 23 is objectionable, because it is virtually an instruction on the `retreat to the wall' doctrine. We find no such implication in the Instruction, which states the defendant's duty of conduct in the language of the statute. Moreover, defendant fails to mention Instruction No. 24, given immediately following the primary self-defense instruction, which read: You are instructed that if the defendant was in a place where he had a right to be, he was not obliged to retreat or flee to save his own life, but in such circumstances had the right to stand his ground. This instruction refutes any possibility that the trial court's charge to the jury imposed upon defendant a duty to retreat.