Va. Model Jury Instr. Crim. No. 2.780

As you have been told, your verdict must be unanimous. If you can possibly reach a verdict, it is

your duty to do so. You should listen to the views and opinions of your fellow jurors with fairness

and candor and you should consider what they say. However, you must decide the case for yourself

and you should reach an agreement only if it can be done without sacrificing your individual

judgment. As you deliberate, each of you, whether in the majority or the minority, should not

hesitate to re-examine your own views and change your opinion if you are convinced it was wrong.

No juror, however, should give up his honest opinion as to the evidence solely because of the

opinion of his fellow jurors or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict.

If you can reach a decision without surrendering your conscientious opinion, it is your duty to do

so.

Please return to the jury room and give the matter your further consideration.

[What I am about to say does not mean that you are going to be made to agree or that you are going to

continue deliberations until you arrive at a verdict.

[Trials are expensive and the jury must decide the issues in the case. If you cannot decide, then we

will have to get another jury to decide the issues. I see no reason why you as jurors are not as competent

and able to decide the issues as any other jury.

It is your duty to make an honest and sincere attempt to reach a verdict. Of course, that must be

unanimous. Jurors should be open-minded and listen to the argument of others.

Talk over the issues and evidence freely and fairly. Each juror must decide the issue for himself or

herself, but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence with his or her fellow jurors.

During your deliberations a juror should not hesitate to re-examine his or her views and change his

or her opinion if convinced it is erroneous.

Each juror in the minority view should reconsider such minority view in light of the opinion of the

majority. And, likewise, each juror in the majority view should give equal consideration to the views of

the minority.

No juror should surrender his or her conviction as to the weight of the evidence, solely because of

the opinion of his or her fellow jurors or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict.

As fair-minded individuals, then, I'm asking you to go back, to retire, to make another honest effort to

come to a conclusion on all the issues presented in the case, keeping in mind what I said to you in this

instruction.]

Thank you.