Proposed Mississippi Plain Language Model Jury Instructions - Criminal 100

You have been selected to serve on the jury to decide this case. Now that jury selection is

complete, I will give you some instructions.

The indictment in this case is not evidence or proof of the defendant’s guilt. You are not

to presume anything from the indictment.

You will hear the evidence during the trial. You must decide what the facts are in this

case. You must then apply the law to the facts and return a verdict.

It is my duty as the judge to make sure that the trial is conducted in a fair and orderly way.

I will also instruct you on the law that applies to this case. You are required to follow the law as I

explain it to you.

You must pay close attention to the witnesses’ testimony and the exhibits presented

during the trial. You should not make a decision or form an opinion about the case one way or

another until you have heard all of the evidence and the closing arguments and have been

instructed on the law.

You may not talk to or have any contact with the defendant, the defendant’s attorney(s),

or the attorney(s) for the State during this trial. They have been told not to talk to or have any

contact with you as well. You must not talk to anyone about this case, including your family and

friends. If anyone attempts to talk to you about this case or talks about the case in front of you,

you should immediately tell either the bailiff or me.

Until you retire to deliberate this case, you must not comment about this case in any way

during this trial, even among yourselves. This means that you are not to email anything about this

case, post anything about this case on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or on a blog, website, or

other social networking site, text anything about this case, or update any other type of Internet

site.

Until you are discharged from serving on this jury, you are not to read, listen to, or watch

any news reports about this case. You must not do any research on your own or as a group about

this case or the defendant. You must not use dictionaries, a computer, an electronic device, your

phone, the Internet, or any other research materials to learn anything about this case. You are not

to contact anyone to ask him or her anything about this case. You must not visit or view the

scene(s) of any event(s) involved in this case.

The reason you are not to talk about this case with anyone or conduct your own

investigation is so that you can decide the case based on the evidence presented at trial and the

law. That is your sworn duty as a juror.

It is my duty to rule on the attorneys’ motions and/or objections which are made during

the trial. You should not think that I have any opinion about any part of this case based on what I

rule or say in response to those motions and/or objections.

I may need to conduct some hearings on trial matters outside your presence. Sometimes

these hearings take a long time. I ask you to please be patient and understanding when this

happens.

Serving as a juror means that you will have to sit and listen carefully to testimony for a

long period of time. If you feel that you need a rest break, please ask for a recess.

Now, I will briefly explain the general way that a trial proceeds. First, the attorney(s) for

the State will make an opening statement. [He/She/They] will explain the issues in the case and

summarize the facts that the State expects the evidence to show. Next, the defendant’s attorney(s)

can make an opening statement or [he/she/they] can wait until later in the trial. Opening

statements are not evidence. They are only designed to introduce the theory of the case to you.

You should listen closely to the opening statements to prepare yourself to hear the witnesses’

testimony and the evidence which will follow.

After the opening statements, witnesses will be called to testify under oath and will be

questioned by the attorneys. Documents and other exhibits may also be introduced as evidence.

At the end of the trial, I will instruct you on the law. You will have a written copy of the

jury instructions to take with you to decide the case.

The State will then make its closing argument, and the attorney(s) for the defendant will

follow and make [his/her/their] closing argument as well. The State may decide to respond to the

defendant’s closing argument.

After the closing arguments are finished, you will go to the jury room to consider the

testimony and evidence and decide your verdict. This will be the first time that you are allowed

to discuss this case.

As a juror, you must pay close attention and keep an open mind until the case is given to

you to decide. You are to decide the facts in this case based on the evidence presented at trial.

You should not be influenced by bias, sympathy, or prejudice. Your verdict should not be based

on speculation or guesswork. Your verdict must be based on the evidence.