Miss. R. Crim. P. 18.6

(a) Note Taking Permitted in the Discretion of the Court. The court may

permit jurors to take written notes concerning testimony and other evidence. If

the court permits jurors to take written notes, jurors shall have access to their

notes during deliberations. Those notes shall be secured in the custody of the

clerk when court is not in session. Immediately after the jury has rendered its

verdict, all notes shall be collected by the bailiff or clerk and destroyed.

(b) Instructions. The court shall instruct the jury as to whether note taking will

be permitted. If the court permits jurors to take written notes, the trial judge

shall give both a preliminary instruction and an instruction at the close of all the

evidence on the appropriate use of juror notes. These instructions shall be given

in the following manner:

(1) Preliminary Instruction: Note Taking Forbidden.

You may not take notes during the course of the trial. There are

several reasons for this. It is difficult to take notes and, at the same

time, pay attention to what a witness is saying. Further, in a group

the size of yours, certain persons will take better notes than others

will, and there is a risk that jurors who do not take good notes will

depend on jurors who do. The jury system depends upon all jurors

paying close attention and arriving at a decision. I believe that the

jury system works better when the jurors do not take notes.

You will notice that we do have an official court reporter making a

record of the trial; however, we will not have typewritten transcripts

of this record available for your use in reaching a decision in this

case.

(2) Preliminary Instruction: Note Taking Permitted.

If you would like to do so, you may take notes during the course of

the trial. On the other hand, you are not required to take notes if you

prefer not to do so. Each of you should make your own decision

about this. If you decide to take notes, be careful not to get so

involved in note taking that you become distracted from the

ongoing proceedings.

Notes are only a memory aid and a juror’s notes may be used only

as an aid to refresh that particular juror’s memory and assist that

juror in recalling the actual testimony. Each of you must rely on

your own independent recollection of the proceedings. Whether you

take notes or not, each of you must form and express your own

opinion as to the facts of this case. An individual juror’s notes may

be used by that juror only and may not be shown to or shared with

other jurors. Immediately after the jury has rendered its verdict, all

notes shall be collected by the bailiff or clerk and destroyed.

You will notice that we do have an official court reporter making a

record of the trial; however, we will not have typewritten transcripts

of this record available for your use in reaching a decision in this

case.

(3) Use of Notes During Deliberations.

Jury Instruction #

Members of the Jury, shortly after you were selected I informed you

that you could take notes and I instructed you as to the appropriate

use of any notes that you might take. Most importantly, an

individual juror’s notes may be used by that juror only and may not

be shown to or shared with other jurors. Notes are only a memory

aid and a juror’s notes may be used only as an aid to refresh that

particular juror’s memory and assist that juror in recalling the actual

testimony. Each of you must rely on your own independent

recollection of the proceedings. Whether you took notes or not,

each of you must form and express your own opinion as to the facts

of this case. Be aware that during the course of your deliberations

there might be the temptation to allow notes to cause certain

portions of the evidence to receive undue emphasis and receive

attention out of proportion to the entire evidence. But a juror’s

memory or impression is entitled to no greater weight just because

he or she took notes, and you should not be influenced by the notes

of other jurors.