5th Cir. Pattern Jury Instr. (Civil) 1.1

Members of the jury panel, if you have a cell phone,

PDA, smart phone, iPhone or any other wireless communication device with you, please take it out now and

turn it off. Do not turn it to vibrate or silent; power it

down. During jury selection, you must leave it off.

There are certain rules you must follow while

participating in this trial.

First, you may not communicate with anyone about

the case, including your fellow jurors, until it is time to

deliberate. I understand you may want to tell your family, close friends and other people that you have been

called for jury service so that you can explain when you

are required to be in court. You should warn them not

to ask you about this case, tell you anything they know

or think they know about it, or discuss this case in your

presence, until after I accept your verdict or excuse you

as a juror.

Similarly, you must not give any information to

anyone by any means about this case. For example, do

not talk face-to-face or use any electronic device or

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media, such as the telephone, a cell or smart phone,

camera, recording device, PDA, computer, the Internet,

any Internet service, any text or instant messaging service, any Internet chat room, blog, or website such as

Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, or Twitter,

or any other way to communicate to anyone any information about this case until I accept your verdict or

until you have been excused as a juror. This includes

any information about the parties, witnesses, participants, [claims] [charges], evidence, or anything else related to this case.

Second, do not speak with anyone in or around the

courthouse other than your fellow jurors or court

personnel. Some of the people you encounter may have

some connection to the case. If you were to speak with

them, that could create an appearance or raise a

suspicion of impropriety.

Third, do not do any research—on the Internet, in

libraries, in books, newspapers, magazines, or using

any other source or method. Do not make any investigation about this case on your own. Do not visit or view

any place discussed in this case and do not use Internet

programs or other devices to search for or view any

place discussed in the testimony. Do not in any way

research any information about this case, the law, or

the people involved, including the parties, the witnesses, the lawyers, or the judge, until after you have

been excused as jurors. If you happen to see or hear

anything touching on this case in the media, turn away

and report it to me as soon as possible.

These rules protect the parties’ right to have this

case decided only on evidence they know about, that

has been presented here in court. If you do any research,

investigation or experiment that we do not know about,

or gain any information through improper communications, then your verdict may be influenced by inac-