3d Cir. Model Jury Instr. (Criminal) 3.01

Members of the jury, you have seen and heard all the evidence and the

arguments of the lawyers. Now I will instruct you on the law.

You have two duties as a jury. Your first duty is to decide the facts from the

evidence that you have heard and seen in court during this trial. That is your job

and yours alone. I play no part in finding the facts. You should not take anything I

may have said or done during the trial as indicating what I think of the evidence or

what I think about what your verdict should be.

Your second duty is to apply the law that I give you to the facts. My role now

is to explain to you the legal principles that must guide you in your decisions. You

must apply my instructions carefully. Each of the instructions is important, and you

must apply all of them. You must not substitute or follow your own notion or

opinion about what the law is or ought to be. You must apply the law that I give to

you, whether you agree with it or not.

Whatever your verdict, it will have to be unanimous. All of you will have to

agree on it or there will be no verdict. In the jury room you will discuss the case

among yourselves, but ultimately each of you will have to make up his or her own

mind. This is a responsibility that each of you has and that you cannot avoid.

Throughout your deliberations, you may discuss with each other the evidence

and the law that has been presented in this case, but you must not communicate

with anyone else by any means about the case. You also cannot learn from outside

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sources about the case, the matters in the case, the legal issues in the case, or

individuals or other entities involved in the case. This means you may not use any

electronic device or media (such as a phone, computer, or tablet), the internet, any

text or instant messaging service, or any social media apps (such as Twitter,

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, WhatsApp, and Snapchat) to research

or communicate about what you’ve seen and heard in this courtroom.

These restrictions continue during deliberations because it is essential, under

our Constitution, that you decide this case based solely on the evidence and law

presented in this courtroom. Information you find on the internet or through social

media might be incomplete, misleading, or inaccurate. And, as I noted in my

instructions at the start of the trial, even using your smartphones, tablets, and

computers - and the news and social media apps on those devices – may

inadvertently expose you to certain notices, such as pop-ups or advertisements, that

could influence your consideration of the matters you’ve heard about in this

courtroom.

You are permitted to discuss the case with only your fellow jurors during

deliberations because they have seen and heard the same evidence and instructions

on the law that you have, and it is important that you decide this case solely on the

evidence presented during the trial, without undue influence by anything or anyone

outside of the courtroom. For this reason, I expect you to inform me at the earliest

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opportunity, should you learn about or share any information about this case

outside of this courtroom or the jury room, or learn that another juror has done so.

Perform these duties fairly and impartially. Do not allow sympathy,

prejudice, fear, or public opinion to influence you. You should also not be

influenced by any person's race, color, religion, national ancestry, or gender (,

sexual orientation, profession, occupation, celebrity, economic circumstances, or

position in life or in the community).