VA · jury_instructions
Va. Model Jury Instr. Crim. No. 2.400
Circumstantial Evidence
Any fact that may be proved by direct evidence may also be proved by circumstantial evidence;
that is you may draw all reasonable conclusions from the evidence. You may convict the defendant
on circumstantial evidence alone, or on circumstantial evidence combined with other evidence, if
you believe from all the evidence that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
When the Commonwealth relies upon circumstantial evidence, the circumstances proved must
be consistent with guilt and inconsistent with innocence. It is not sufficient that the circumstances
proved create a suspicion of guilt, however strong, or even a probability of guilt.
The evidence as a whole must exclude every reasonable theory of innocence.
History
Virginia Model Jury Instructions – Criminal, Release 26, October 2025. The unannotated set, posted by the Supreme Court of Virginia at vacourts.gov; the book states that it is made available with the permission of the publisher, Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.
Provenance
- Source
- vacourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-11
- Edition
- crim-2025-10-01
- Content hash
8d5c9274ba4506a6cb633654e6864a1de70315444384611855bcfc74931d4db0
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