CALCRIM No. 967. Shooting at Unoccupied Aircraft (Pen. Code, § 247(a))
Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (2023 edition)
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967.Shooting at Unoccupied Aircraft (Pen. Code, § 247(a))
The defendant is charged [in Count ] with shooting at an
unoccupied aircraft [in violation of Penal Code section 247(a)].
To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must
prove that:
1. The defendant willfully and maliciously shot a firearm;
[AND]
2. The defendant shot the firearm at an unoccupied aircraft(;/.)
<Give element 3 when instructing on self-defense or defense of another.>
[AND
3. The defendant did not act (in self-defense/ [or] in defense of
someone else).]
Someone commits an act willfully when he or she does it willingly or on
purpose.
Someone acts maliciously when he or she intentionally does a wrongful
act or when he or she acts with the unlawful intent to disturb, defraud,
annoy, or injure someone else.
[An aircraft is an airplane or other craft intended for and capable of
transporting persons through the air.]
[A firearm is any device designed to be used as a weapon, from which a
projectile is discharged or expelled through a barrel by the force of an
explosion or other form of combustion.]
[The term[s] (firearm/ <insert other term>) (is/are) defined in
another instruction to which you should refer.]
New January 2006; Revised February 2012
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give this 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 and any
appropriate defense instructions. (See CALCRIM Nos. 3470-3477.)
Give the relevant bracketed definitions unless the court has already given the
699
definition in other instructions. In such cases, the court may give the bracketed
sentence stating that the term is defined elsewhere.
Related Instructions
CALCRIM No. 965, Shooting at Inhabited House or Occupied Motor Vehicle.
CALCRIM No. 966, Shooting at Uninhabited House or Unoccupied Motor Vehicle.
AUTHORITY
• Elements. Pen. Code, § 247(a).
• Firearm Defined. Pen. Code, § 16520.
• Malicious Defined. Pen. Code, § 7(4).
• Aircraft Defined. Pen. Code, § 247.
• Willful Defined. Pen. Code, § 7(1); In re Jerry R. (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 1432,
1438 [35 Cal.Rptr.2d 155] [in context of Pen. Code, § 246].
RELATED ISSUES
Laser
Willfully and maliciously discharging a laser at an occupied aircraft that is in
motion or flight is a separate crime. (See Pen. Code, § 247.5.) It is also a crime to
willfully shine a light or other bright device at an aircraft with the intent to interfere
with the aircraft’s operation. (See Pen. Code, § 248.)
SECONDARY SOURCES
1 Witkin & Epstein, California Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Crimes Against the
Person, § 52.
6 Millman, Sevilla & Tarlow, California Criminal Defense Practice, Ch. 144, Crimes
Against Order, § 144.01[1][i] (Matthew Bender).
CALCRIM No. 967 ASSAULTIVE AND BATTERY CRIMES
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© Judicial Council of California.
