## Facts

- Auguste Courvoisier, a jeweler, operated a store on the first floor of a Denver building and slept upstairs.
- Late at night, Courvoisier was awakened by people attempting to break into the store and causing damage and disorder in and around the building, including near his sister’s room.
- Courvoisier armed himself with a revolver, drove the intruders out, and fired several warning shots into the air.
- The disturbance continued; individuals outside cursed and threw objects such as sticks, rocks, or bricks toward Courvoisier.
- Police officer Edwin S. Raymond responded to the scene intending to stop the disorder and make arrests.
- Raymond approached Courvoisier and told him he was a police officer and to stop shooting.
- Courvoisier asserted that, in the darkness and confusion, he did not know Raymond was an officer and believed Raymond was one of the attackers approaching threateningly and reaching toward his pocket.
- Courvoisier fired at Raymond, striking him in the abdomen and causing serious injury.
- Raymond claimed Courvoisier knew he was an officer and fired recklessly; Courvoisier claimed he acted in self-defense based on a reasonable mistake.

## Issues

1. In a civil action for battery, may a defendant claim self-defense when he intentionally uses force against a person he reasonably but mistakenly believes is an assailant?
2. Did the trial court err by instructing the jury to find for the plaintiff if the plaintiff was not actually assaulting the defendant at the moment of the shooting, thereby preventing consideration of reasonable mistake?

## Decision

- The Colorado Supreme Court reversed the judgment for Raymond and remanded for a new trial.
- The court held that the challenged instruction was erroneous because it made liability depend solely on whether Raymond was in fact assaulting Courvoisier.
- The jury should have been permitted to consider whether Courvoisier honestly and reasonably believed he faced imminent danger and that shooting was necessary, even if Raymond was not an attacker.

## Legal Principles

- Self-defense is a complete defense to civil battery when the defendant uses force he honestly and reasonably believes is necessary to prevent imminent harm.
- The defense may apply even if the person injured was not actually the aggressor, if the defendant’s mistake about the person’s identity or threat was reasonable under the circumstances.
- Proper jury instructions must allow jurors to evaluate justification based on the defendant’s reasonable perceptions in the situation, not only on later-determined facts about whether the plaintiff was truly attacking.
- The amount and type of force used must be proportionate to the apparent threat as reasonably perceived.

## Conclusion

The court required a new trial because the jury was not allowed to assess whether Courvoisier’s intentional shooting was justified by an honest and reasonable belief that he was defending himself during a chaotic, threatening disturbance, even though the person shot was a police officer and not an assailant.


Courvoisier v. Raymond, 23 Colo. 113, 47 P. 284 (Colo. 1896)