Mont. Crim. Jury Instr. 1-102 (2022)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury:

It is my duty to instruct the jury on the law that applies to this case, and it is your duty as jurors to follow the law as I shall state it to you.

No remarks I make or instructions I give are intended to express my opinion as to the facts in this case or what verdict you should return.

You should take the law in this case from my instructions alone. You should not accept anyone else’s version as to what the law is in this case. You should not decide this case contrary to these instructions, even though you might believe the law ought to be otherwise. Counsel, however, may comment and argue to the jury upon the law as given in these instructions. If, in these instructions, any rule, direction or idea is stated in varying ways, no emphasis thereon is intended by me, and none must be inferred by you. You are not to single out any sentence or any individual point or instruction, and ignore the others. You are to consider all of the instructions as a whole, and are to regard each in the light of all the others. The order in which the instructions are given has no significance as to their relative importance.

The function of the jury is to decide the issues of fact resulting from the [charge] [charges] filed in this Court by the State and the Defendant’s plea of “not guilty” to the [charge] [charges]. You must perform this duty uninfluenced by passion or prejudice. You must not be biased against a Defendant because the Defendant has been arrested for this offense, or because charges have been filed, or because the Defendant has been brought before the Court to stand trial. None of these facts is evidence of guilt, and you are not permitted to infer or to speculate from any or all of them that the Defendant is more likely to be guilty than innocent.

You are to be governed solely by the evidence introduced in this trial and the law as stated to you by me. The law forbids you to be governed by mere sentiment, conjecture, sympathy, passion, prejudice, public opinion or public feeling. Both the

State and the Defendant have a right to demand, and they do demand and expect, that you will act conscientiously and dispassionately in considering and weighing the evidence and applying the law of the case.