VA · jury_instructions
Va. Model Jury Instr. Crim. No. 35.400
Giving False Reports to Law Enforcement Officials
The defendant is charged with the crime of giving a false report to a law enforcement official.
The Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the following elements of that
crime:
(1) That the defendant gave a false report to a law enforcement official; and
(2) That the report was about the commission of a crime; and
(3) That the defendant knew the report was false; and
(4) That the defendant intended to mislead the law enforcement official.
If you find from the evidence that the Commonwealth has proved beyond a reasonable doubt
each of the above elements of the crime as charged, then you shall find the defendant guilty, [but
you shall not fix the punishment until your verdict has been returned and further evidence has
been heard by you].
If you find that the Commonwealth has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt any one or
more of the elements of the crime, then you shall find the defendant not guilty.
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
25baff9256a3275f693710454c44237b6aa6c3b2d10433ab4ade875bd4fce1f8
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