MS · jury_instructions
Proposed Mississippi Plain Language Model Jury Instructions - Criminal 2706
Depraved Heart
[Name of defendant] is charged in count ____ with murder.
If you find beyond a reasonable doubt from the evidence in this case that:
1. On or about [date of alleged crime], in ____________ County;
2. Although [name of defendant] did not have a premeditated design to kill [name of victim],
[name of defendant] unlawfully and with a depraved heart killed [name of victim], a human
being, by ________________ [describe defendant’s alleged actions], [and
3. [Name of defendant] was not acting in self-defense,]*
then you shall find [name of defendant] guilty as charged.
If the State did not prove any one of the above listed elements beyond a reasonable doubt,
then you shall find [name of defendant] not guilty of count _____.
Definition(s) in this Instruction:
In this instruction, “depraved heart” means a person acts in a highly dangerous way which
shows that [he/she] does not care for the safety of human life. Even if someone does not intend to
kill a particular person, [he/she] can still be guilty of murder if [he/she] acts with a depraved
heart, and a person is killed as a result.
History
Proposed Mississippi Plain Language Model Jury Instructions - Criminal 2706 (current as of June 30, 2012). Submitted in 2012 by the Mississippi Model Jury Instructions Commission (created by the Supreme Court of Mississippi by order of December 30, 2008) and published by the Court on courts.ms.gov. The Court states that these model jury instructions have not been adopted or approved by the Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Provenance
- Source
- courts.ms.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-25
- Edition
- 2026-09-25
- Content hash
98f813db5e99db4ae95acdc3af4297de18e4c1838a5fe645969a53b0142914f7
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