Also known as: grievous bodily injuries · GBI · grievous bodily harm
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Serious physical harm to a person's body. An intent to inflict such harm during an unlawful killing satisfies the malice aforethought element of common law murder even if the defendant did not intend death itself.
Gabriel Gonzalez lured Giselle Guerrero to an isolated parking lot after learning she planned to expose his theft of charitable funds. He retrieved a heavy tire iron from his trunk and repeatedly struck her head, killing her. The blows to the head demonstrated an intent to inflict grievous bodily injury sufficient to establish malice aforethought for murder.
Officer Greta Goldstein pursued George Garcia after he committed an armed robbery. When Garcia fled on foot without a weapon and posed no immediate threat to anyone, Goldstein fired at his back, striking him in the spine and causing permanent paralysis. The resulting serious injury raised questions about whether the force was justified under standards limiting deadly force to situations involving danger of death or grievous bodily harm.
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Gloria Green operated a vehicle to transport drugs. Federal authorities seized the vehicle after her arrest. The government sought forfeiture on the ground that the property had been used to facilitate conduct involving grievous bodily injury risks associated with the underlying drug offenses.
At common law an intent to inflict grievous bodily harm during an unlawful killing satisfies malice aforethought and supports a murder conviction even without an intent to kill.
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Yes. When a defendant intentionally directs a deadly weapon at a vital area the factfinder may infer an intent to kill or to inflict grievous bodily harm thereby satisfying malice aforethought.
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Yes. If the killing occurs in the heat of passion upon adequate provocation and before a reasonable cooling-off period the offense is mitigated to voluntary manslaughter even though the defendant acted with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm.
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Intent to cause grievous bodily injury requires a purposeful mental state directed at serious harm while extreme recklessness involves a depraved heart showing indifference to human life without a specific intent to harm.
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…and the New York City Police Department, for example, both forbid the use of firearms except when necessary to prevent death or grievous bodily harm. Id. , at 40-41; App. 83. For accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, a department must restrict the use of deadly force to situations where "the…