3d Cir. Model Jury Instr. (Criminal) 1.03

The Sixth Amendment of our Constitution guarantees a trial by an impartial

jury. This means that, as jurors, you must decide this case based solely on the evidence

and law presented to you here in this courtroom. Until all the evidence and arguments

have been presented and you begin to deliberate, you may not discuss this case with

anyone, even your fellow jurors. After you start to deliberate, you may discuss the case,

the evidence, and the law as it has been presented, but only with your fellow jurors. You

cannot discuss it with anyone else until you have returned a verdict and the case has

come to an end. I’ll now walk through some specific examples of what this means.

(1) Keep an open mind. Do not make up your mind about the verdict until you

have heard all of the evidence, and I have given final instructions about the law at the

end of the trial, and you have discussed the case with your fellow jurors during your

deliberations.

(2) Do not discuss the case among yourselves until the end of the trial when you

retire to the jury room to deliberate. You need to allow each juror the opportunity to

keep an open mind throughout the entire trial. During trial you may talk with your

fellow jurors about anything else of a personal nature or of common interest.

(3) During the trial you should not speak to any of the parties, lawyers, or

witnesses involved in this case, not even to pass the time of day. If any lawyer, party, or

witness does not speak to you when you pass in the hall, ride the elevator, or the like,

remember it is because they are not supposed to talk or visit with you, either.

(4) Do not talk with anyone else or listen to others talk about this case until the

trial has ended and you have been discharged as jurors. It is important not only that you

11

do justice in this case, but that you give the appearance of justice. If anyone should try to

talk to you about the case during the trial, please report that to me, through my

courtroom deputy, immediately. Do not discuss this situation with any other juror.

(5) Do not discuss the case with anyone outside the courtroom or at home,

including your family and friends. You may tell your family or friends that you have

been selected as a juror in a case and you may tell them how long the trial is expected to

last. However, you should also tell them that the judge instructed you not to talk any

more about the case and that they should not talk to you about it. The reason for this is

that sometimes someone else’s thoughts can influence you. Your thinking should be

influenced only by what you learn in the courtroom.

(6) Until the trial is over and your verdict is announced, do not watch or listen to

any television or radio news programs or reports about the case, or read any news or

internet stories or articles about the case, or about anyone involved with it. [In highly

publicized cases, the judge may want to add an additional instruction in this regard.]

(7) During the trial, you must not conduct any independent research about this

case, or the matters, legal issues, individuals, or other entities involved in this case. You

must not visit the scene or conduct experiments. Also, just as you must not search or

review any traditional sources of information about this case (such as dictionaries,

reference materials, or television news or entertainment programs), you also must not

search the internet or any other electronic resources for information about this case or

the witnesses or parties involved in it. The bottom line for the important work you will

be doing is that you must base your verdict only on the evidence presented in this

courtroom, along with instructions on the law that I will provide.

12

(8) You must not communicate about the case with anyone, including your

family and friends, until deliberations, when you will discuss the case with only other

jurors. During deliberations, you must continue not to communicate about the case with

anyone else. Most of us use smartphones, tablets, or computers in our daily lives to

access the internet, for information, and to participate in social media platforms. To

remain impartial jurors, however, you must not communicate with anyone about this

case, whether in person, in writing, or through email, text messaging, blogs, or social

media websites and apps (like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube,

WhatsApp, and Snapchat).

Please note that these restrictions are about all kinds of communications about

this case, even those that are not directed at any particular person or group.

Communications like blog posts or tweets can be shared to an ever-expanding circle of

people and can have an unexpected impact on this trial. For example, a post you make to

your social media account might be viewable by a witness who is not supposed to know

what has happened in this courtroom before he or she has testified. For these reasons,

you must inform me immediately if you learn about or share any information about the

case outside of this courtroom, even if by accident, or if you discover that another juror

has done so.

(9) You should also be aware of an even newer challenge for trials such as this

one–persons, entities, and even foreign governments may seek to manipulate your

opinions, or your impartiality during deliberations, using the communications I’ve

already discussed or using fake social media accounts. But these misinformation efforts

might also be undertaken through targeted advertising online or in social media. Many

13

of the tools you use to access email, social media, and the internet display third-party

notifications, pop-ups, or ads while you are using them. These communications may be

intended to persuade you or your community on an issue and could influence you in

your service as a juror in this case. For example, while accessing your email, social

media, or the internet, through no fault of your own, you might see popups containing

information about this case or the matters, legal principles, individuals or other entities

involved in this case. Please be aware of this possibility, ignore any pop-ups or ads that

might be relevant to what we are doing here, and certainly do not click through to learn

more if these notifications or ads appear. If this happens, you must let me know.

Because it is so important to the parties’ rights that you decide this case based

solely on the evidence and my instructions on the law, at the beginning of each day, I

may ask you whether you have learned about or shared any information outside of this

courtroom. (I like to let the jury know in advance that I may be doing that, so you are

prepared for the question.)

(9) Finally, you should not concern yourselves with or consider the possible

punishment that might be imposed if you return a verdict of guilty.

I hope that for all of you this case is interesting and noteworthy.