Also known as: serious bodily injuries · SBI
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or causes serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Santiago Sanchez grabbed a government laptop and fled the licensing office. As clerk Sylvia Santos pursued him into the hallway, Santiago slammed a heavy metal door on her hand. The impact crushed multiple bones and severed tendons, requiring surgery and extended rehabilitation. This injury satisfied the serious bodily injury element for robbery liability.
Samuel Soto confronted a suspected shoplifter in a stockroom and repeatedly kicked the prone teenager in the torso with steel-toed boots. The blows produced massive internal injuries that proved fatal. The factfinder could infer from the intentional use of a deadly weapon in this manner that Soto intended to cause serious bodily injury.
Sofia Stern seized a laptop from a municipal office and fled. When the clerk chased her, Sofia turned and pointed a realistic replica pistol at him while stating she would shoot if he followed. The clerk reasonably apprehended immediate serious bodily injury from the apparent firearm, satisfying the robbery threat element.
Simon Stern argued with a deckhand on a fishing vessel during rough seas. Stern seized a metal gaff hook, advanced on the deckhand, and threatened to throw him overboard if he caused further trouble. The maritime setting and explicit threat placed the deckhand in fear of imminent serious bodily injury, supporting an aggravated assault charge.
Sabrina Shah confronted a coworker in an office suite and inflicted multiple deep stab wounds to the chest and neck with a fixed-blade knife. The wounds created a substantial risk of death and caused protracted impairment of vital functions. The resulting injuries met the serious bodily injury threshold under applicable sentencing provisions.
Sylvia Santos locked a conference room door and repeatedly struck a junior analyst in the head with a heavy stapler and closed-fist punches until the analyst lost consciousness. The resulting brain hemorrhage caused death. The targeted head trauma constituted serious bodily injury that supplied implied malice for the homicide charge.
Serious bodily injury requires bodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death or causes serious permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ. Crushed bones and severed tendons from a door slam meet this standard because they produce substantial impairment requiring medical intervention. Head trauma causing brain hemorrhage likewise qualifies because it creates a substantial risk of death.
Robbery occurs when a person inflicts serious bodily injury upon another in the course of committing a theft. The injury must satisfy the statutory definition of creating substantial risk of death or causing protracted impairment. Conduct during immediate flight after the theft counts as occurring in the course of committing the theft.
…731 A. 2d, at 498. In the dissent's view, the facts increasing sentences in both Almendarez-Torres (recidivism) and Jones (serious bodily injury) were quite distinct from New Jersey's required finding of purpose here; the latter finding turns directly on the conduct of the defendant during the crime and defines a level of…
…on the extent of harm to the victim: 15 years in jail if there was no serious injury
…Code Ann., Tit. 11, § 467 (1979) (felony involving physical force and a substantial risk that the suspect will cause death or serious bodily injury or will never be recaptured); Ga. Code § 16-3-21(a) (1984); Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 38, ¶ 7-5 (1984); Iowa Code § 804.8 (1983) (suspect has used or threatened deadly force in commission of a…
…who currently commit such crimes as murder, § 2A1.2; air piracy, § 2A5.1; robbery (involving the discharge of a firearm, serious bodily injury
…commits the offense of murder if (1) he intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual; or (2) he intends to cause serious bodily injury
A factfinder may draw a permissive inference that a person intended to kill when the person intentionally uses a deadly weapon in a manner calculated or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury. A heavy stapler or steel-toed boots qualify as deadly weapons when deployed against vulnerable body parts in a sustained attack.
A threat of immediate serious bodily injury satisfies the robbery element when the actor purposely puts the victim in fear, regardless of whether the apparent weapon can actually fire. A realistic replica pistol pointed at the victim with an explicit statement to shoot creates the required fear.