Proposed Mississippi Plain Language Model Jury Instructions - Criminal 101

You have now heard all of the testimony and evidence in this case.

It is my duty now to instruct and explain the law to you that you will follow in deciding

this case. It is your sworn duty as a juror to follow the law. I will give you a written copy of the

jury instructions to take with you to the jury room.

You are not to question whether any rule of law is a good rule of law or not. Even if you

have an opinion as to what the law should be, you must decide the case based on what the law is,

as defined in the jury instructions. If you decide the case based on what you think the law should

be, it would violate your sworn duty as a juror.

It is my duty to be completely fair and impartial in this case. If I said anything or ruled in

a way that made you think that I have an opinion about any part of this case, you must disregard

that idea.

Your role is to determine the facts in this case and to consider and weigh the evidence to

determine those facts. You must exercise your role as juror with sincere judgment, common

sense, and by following the rules of law given to you by the court.

The defendant and the State have a right to expect that you will carefully consider and

weigh the evidence and apply the law to the facts. Your verdict must be based only on the

evidence and the law.

The evidence that you are to consider is the witnesses’ testimony and any exhibits which

were admitted into evidence.

As the sole judges of the facts in this case, you must decide what weight to give to the

testimony and exhibits. You must also determine the truthfulness of each witness in this case.

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

on speculation or guesswork. You must use common sense and honest judgment in considering

and weighing the testimony of each witness. You are also allowed to draw reasonable

conclusions from the evidence.

The attorney’s statements are intended only to help you understand the evidence and

apply the law. However, the attorney’s statements are not evidence. If an attorney’s statement is

not based on the evidence, then you must not consider that statement.

The introduction of evidence is governed by rules of law. During the trial, I may have

ruled on the admissibility of evidence. You must not consider any evidence which I excluded,

and you must not think about the reasons why the evidence was excluded. You should not guess

about any possible answers to questions which I did not require to be answered, and you should

not draw any conclusions from those questions.

A case may require many jury instructions. You cannot follow only one jury instruction

but must consider all of the jury instructions together. The order in which I read the jury

instructions to you has no significance as to their importance.

Once I finish reading the jury instructions and excuse you to begin your deliberations, the

court cannot accept any further evidence or provide you with any exhibits other than those

already admitted into evidence. Also, you cannot have a transcript of any testimony taken during

the trial unless that transcript was marked and entered into evidence.

During your deliberations, you must not comment on or discuss this case with anyone

other than your fellow jurors. You may not use your phone or any other electronic device 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; update any other

type of Internet site; or to do any research about this case or the defendant.