8th Cir. Model Jury Instr. (Criminal) 2.01

During this recess, and every other recess, you must not discuss this case with anyone, including the other jurors, members of your family, people involved in the trial, or anyone else. Do not allow anyone to discuss the case with you or within your hearing. Only you have been chosen as jurors in this case, and only you have sworn to uphold the law—no one else has been chosen to do this. You should not even talk among yourselves about the case before you have heard all the evidence and the case has been submitted to you by me for deliberations, because it may affect your final decision. If anyone tries to talk to you about the case, please let me know about it immediately.

When I say “you must not discuss the case with anyone,” I also mean do not e-mail, send text messages, blog or engage in any other form of written, oral or electronic communication, as I instructed you before.

[Do not read any newspaper or other written account, watch any televised account, or listen to any radio program about this trial. Do not conduct any electronic research or consult with any other sources about this case, the people involved in the case, or its general subject matter. You must keep your mind open and free of outside information. Only in this way will you be able to decide the case fairly, based solely on the testimony, evidence presented in this courtroom, and my instructions on the law. If you decide this case on anything else, you will have done an injustice. It would be a violation of your oath for you to base your decision on someone else’s view or opinion, or upon other information you acquire outside the courtroom. It is very important that you follow these instructions.]

I may not repeat these things to you before every recess but keep them in mind throughout the trial.

Revised October 2021.