Add Value Choice Word Jury Instructions Templates For Free

The answer is simple: The law doesn't allow it. The lengthy instructions, which the judge read to jurors right before they started deliberating, are meant to serve as a road map and to help them apply the relevant law to the facts as they have found them.

The prohibition against jurors being provided with a copy of the written legal instructions stems from a 1987 decision by the New York Court of Appeals — the state's highest court — in a case called People v.

At the end of a trial, the judge instructs the jury on the applicable law. While the jury must obey the judge's instructions as to the law, the jury alone is responsible for determining the facts of the case from the differing versions presented by the parties at trial.

For jury instructions to be effective, they must be clear and simple. Sentences should be short; instruc- • tions should contain no more than a few sentences, cover only one topic, and be directly related to the circumstances of the case (they should not be abstract statements of the law).

Jurors, you have the most important role in this trial, because you are the ones who must decide who and what to believe, and answer each of the questions that I have discussed with you. You must decide this case based only on the evidence presented at the trial. You may not decide this case based on anything else.

Jurors swear an oath to follow those instructions and fulfill their duty impartially. Jury nullification happens when juries disregard that oath and acquit a defendant because they disagree with the law.

The burden of proof is a legal standard that requires parties to provide evidence to demonstrate that a claim is valid. Three levels of the burden of proof, "beyond a reasonable doubt," a "preponderance of the evidence," and "clear and convincing" determine the level of evidence required for a claim.

In a criminal case, the burden of proof must be beyond a reasonable doubt. In civil cases, the burden of proof is by a preponderance of the evidence. The judge will explain what these terms mean for a given case in the jury instructions.

When a party has the burden of proving any claim or affirmative defense by a preponderance of the evidence, it means you must be persuaded by the evidence that the claim or affirmative defense is more probably true than not true.