CJI-Civ. 40:1

(The remarks of the Court to the members of the jury panel at the commencement of the

trial should be substantially as follows:)

Members of the jury, this is (insert appropriate description, e.g., “Courtroom A,”

“Division II,” etc.) of the (Juvenile) (District) Court. My name is (insert name). I am the

judge assigned to preside in this case.

First, I want to tell you about the rules that will govern your conduct during your

jury duty, beginning right now, even if you are not finally selected as jurors. If you are

chosen as jurors, your job will be to decide this case based solely on the evidence presented

during the trial and the instructions that I will give you. You will not be investigators or

researchers, so do not attempt to gather any information about this case on your own. Do

not read or do research about this case or the issues in the case from any other source,

including the internet.

Your verdict must be based only on the evidence and the law provided to you in this

courtroom, and nothing else. If it is not presented here in court, you must not seek it out.

You must not look up, read, watch, or listen to anything about this case outside of what you

hear in this courtroom. That means you may not search the internet using tools like Google

or Bing, or any similar service. You may not search news or commentary from television,

streaming platforms, podcasts, online videos, or newspapers. You may not use social media

such as Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, or Reddit to find or discuss information. You may

not consult reference materials such as Wikipedia, blogs, online forums, dictionaries,

encyclopedias, or medical, scientific, or legal sources. You may not use any AI tools,

including ChatGPT or similar programs, to look up or generate information.

If you were to violate this rule by receiving outside information about the case, it

could force me to declare a mistrial, meaning that the trial would have to start over, and all

of the parties’ work, my work, and your work on this case would be wasted.

Therefore, it is very important that you not receive outside information about this

case, whether it comes from other people, from the media, from books or publications, or

from the internet. You are free to use the internet, but only for purposes unrelated to this

case. Do not search for or receive any information about the parties, the lawyers, the

witnesses, the judge, the evidence, or any place or location mentioned. Do not research the

law. Do not look up the meaning of any words or scientific or technical terms used. If

necessary, I will give you definitions of words or terms.

Also, you are not allowed to visit any place(s) involved in this case. If you normally

travel through such a place, you should try to take a different route until I tell you that

your jury service is completed. If you cannot take a different route, you must not stop or

attempt to gather any information from that location.

Until I tell you that your jury service is complete, do not communicate about the

case with anyone, including family and friends, whether in person, or by telephone, cell

phone, smart phone, computer, internet, or any internet service. This means you must not

email, text, instant message, tweet, blog, or post information about this case, or about your

experience as a juror on this case, on any social media, website, listserv, chat room, or blog.

When court is not in session, you may communicate about anything other than this

case. You may tell others that you are on jury duty and that you cannot talk about this

duty until your service is completed, and you may tell them the estimated schedule of your

jury duty, but do not tell them anything else about the case. If anyone tries to communicate

with you about anything concerning the case, you must stop the communication

immediately and report it to the Bailiff, who will notify me.

(The Court) (I) will now introduce you to this case.

The case we are about to try is not a criminal or civil case, but a juvenile

delinquency case under the Colorado Children’s Code. The parties to this case are: (1) the

People of the State of Colorado, who will be referred to during the trial as “the People” or

“the Prosecution;” (2) (insert juvenile’s name), who may be referred by name or as “the

Juvenile;” and (name of respondent[s]), who (are) (is) the (parent[s]) (guardian[s])

(custodian[s]) of the Juvenile and (is) (are) referred to as “Respondent(s).”

The case is based upon a petition that claims: (here read a short statement of the case).

You should understand that this petition is only a charge and it is not in any sense evidence

of the statements it contains.

The Juvenile has pleaded not guilty to the charge(s) made in the petition. The

People, therefore, have the burden of proving the charge(s) (or count[s]) beyond a

reasonable doubt. The purpose of this trial is to determine whether the charges in the

petition have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The jury will make this

determination. The jury will consider all the evidence received during the trial and will

make its determination with the help of instructions from the Court as to the law

applicable to the case.

(The Court) (I) will now read you some of the instructions that may apply in this

case. These are preliminary instructions about the law and may not be exactly the same as

the final instructions about the law you will be given at the end of the case to use in your

deliberations. If there is any difference between the preliminary and final instructions, you

must follow and be governed by the final instructions in deciding the case. You should not

be concerned about any difference between the preliminary instructions and the final

instructions. (Insert applicable jury instructions, such as the definition of the burden of proof

and any applicable evidentiary standards.)

It will be the sole responsibility of the jurors chosen to try the case to determine the

facts from all the evidence received during the trial.

To meet this responsibility you, as jurors, have a duty to determine the facts and

apply the law impartially.

In this case, the parties are entitled to a jury trial. Trial by jury is a traditional way

for people to render justice among themselves. Each juror plays an equal and important

part in this American plan for justice. This requires your close attention, absolute honesty

and impartiality, and sound judgment.

It has been estimated that this trial will last (insert number) days. (The Court may

either at this time or later inquire whether there are any members of the jury panel who would be

unable to serve during the trial if selected as jurors.)

In this case, it will not be necessary to keep the jurors together at noon or at night

until the case is finally given to you for your decision.