MA · jury_instructions
Instruction 3.840, Criminal Model Jury Instructions for Use in the District Court
Consideration of business records
CONSIDERATION OF BUSINESS RECORDS
There are business records [identify those records if other records were admitted
into evidence] which were admitted as documentary evidence in this case
which will go to the jury room with you. You may consider these
records and give them such weight as you determine they deserve. In
doing so, consider:
First: Whether the entry, writing, or record was made in good
faith;
Second: Whether it was made in the regular course of business;
Third: Whether the information or data contained in the exhibit
was recorded or documented before the beginning of this criminal
proceeding; and
Fourth: Whether it was the regular course of business to make
such memorandum or record at the time of such act, transaction,
occurrence, or event, or within a reasonable time thereafter;
Fifth: Any other evidence that bears on the reliability of the
record.
History
Instruction 3.840, Criminal Model Jury Instructions for Use in the District Court (Revised November 2021). Published by the Administrative Office of the District Court, District Court Department of the Trial Court, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on www.mass.gov. © 1988-2009 Administrative Office of the District Court; reproduced under its title-page permission ("You may freely reproduce or copy this work if you identify its source and any changes made to the original work"). Source: https://www.mass.gov/doc/3840-consideration-of-business-records/download. Changes made: the text is extracted from the published PDF (verified by three extraction engines); the running headers, page numbers and line layout are removed, and a closing NOTES section, where printed, is carried as the note.
Provenance
- Source
- mass.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-25
- Edition
- 2026-09-25
- Content hash
f0ae8e6e0f2f26db5aba899b3d5c3ec42a5270bdc142ca8bcf601007dca43e16
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