PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS TO THE JURY Model Jury charge NJ Criminal cases
My name is __________ and I'm a Judge in
the Superior Court of the State of New Jersey.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you have been
brought here today so that we may select a jury for this case, which is
entitled the State of New Jersey v.__________ . We are about
to begin a process called the voir dire and the purpose of the voir
dire is very simple. It is to obtain
a jury which is able to hear this case without any bias, prejudice or
pre-conceived ideas. In short the idea
is to select a fair jury.
Members
of the panel we are here to try the matter in dispute between the State of
New Jersey and ___________. This is a criminal case and the charge(s) is
(are) ____________.
I realize that jury service may be new to
some of you, so a few preliminary remarks may prove to be helpful.
The first step in a jury trial is the
selection of the jury. This process is
important because both the State and the defendant are entitled to jurors who
are impartial and agree to keep their minds open until a verdict is reached. Jurors must be as free as humanly possible
from bias, prejudice or sympathy and must not be influenced by preconceived
ideas.
Those of you selected as jurors on this
case shall serve as judges of the facts. In other words, you will listen to the
testimony of witnesses, examine any physical evidence introduced and thereafter
determine the facts.
I
am the judge of the law. At the
conclusion of this matter, after the evidence has been presented and counsel
have made their closing arguments, I will tell you what the law is and you must
apply that law to the facts in order to reach a fair and impartial verdict.
Although you may be qualified to serve as
a juror in most cases, there may be something that could disqualify you in this
case or make it embarrassing for you to serve. In order to learn such information and to
ensure that you are impartial and unbiased with respect to this particular
trial, I will ask each of you a number of standard questions about your
background and your views on certain issues, as well as several questions that
ask about your television and Internet viewing habits, favorite news
sources, and the like. This process ensures fairness in each case. I will go over each of the questions so that
you understand them [and you've been given a printed version as well]. Please understand that the questions I will
ask are for a legitimate purpose and not intended to pry into your personal affairs. It is a way for me, as well as the attorneys
and the defendant, to learn life experiences that may affect your service on
this trial. Do not hesitate to speak
your mind honestly and plainly. It is
very important that you answer each question fully and truthfully. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers.
Truthful and honest answers are necessary so that a fair and impartial
jury can be selected.
As we mature we all to some extent
develop certain biases, prejudices, fixed opinions and views. We develop these from our families, others
around us, the media and from our everyday experiences. You are entitled to be who you are and to feel
and think about things as you do. It is
important to recognize any biases, prejudices, fixed opinions and views that
you may have and to disclose them to me during jury selection. If for any reason my questions do not cover
why you would not be able to listen with an open mind to the evidence in this
case or be unable to reach a fair and impartial verdict, it is necessary that
you volunteer this information to me when you are questioned.
If
at any time during the jury selection process you wish to discuss anything with
me concerning your ability to serve as a juror that you believe touches on a
sensitive matter, raise your hand and I will speak with you outside the
presence of the other jurors but in the presence of the attorneys [choose appropriate: [and the defendant]
[and the defendant who is listening at counsel table through a headset].[1]
I do this because you may feel more
comfortable responding with some degree of privacy and because I need you to be
completely open and honest in your responses.
I also want to avoid the risk that your comment could influence your
fellow jurors if they heard it. These
discussions will also be recorded as part of the court record.
After
I have questioned each of you, you may be excused as a juror by me if in my
opinion there is a valid reason why you should not serve. Each attorney may also excuse a limited number
of jurors without giving any reason for doing so. In the event you are excused, please do not
consider this an insult or take it personally. It is merely part of the process employed in
selecting a jury as permitted by our Court Rules. If you are excused and return to the juror assembly area, it
is important that you do not discuss anything about this case or about your
experience in this courtroom with your fellow jurors -- because any such
information may affect the ability of those individuals to serve on this trial
or another trial.
Briefly this case involves: EXPLAIN
NATURE OF THE CASE AT BAR
Our best estimate is that this case will
take __________ or __________ days to complete. At the outside the attorneys and I feel that
it could possibly take as much as __________ days, but it is highly unlikely
that it would take any more time than that.
(Discuss Daily Schedule of Trial)
This is a criminal case there are certain
principles of law that must be accepted and followed by jurors.[2]
The indictment is not evidence of the
defendant's guilt on the charge(s). An
indictment is a step in the procedure to bring the matter before the court and
jury for the jury's ultimate determination as to whether the defendant is
guilty or not guilty on the charge(s) stated in it.
The defendant has pleaded not guilty to
the charge(s) and is presumed to be innocent. Unless each and every element of the
offense(s) charged is (are) proved beyond a reasonable doubt, the defendant
must be found not guilty of that charge.
The burden of proving each element of the
charge(s) beyond a reasonable doubt rests upon the State and that burden never
shifts to the defendant. It is not the
obligation or the duty of the defendant in a criminal case to prove his/her innocence or offer any proof relating to his/her innocence.
The prosecution must prove its case by
more than a mere preponderance of the evidence, yet not necessarily to an
absolute certainty.
The State has the burden of proving the
defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Some of you may have served as jurors in civil
cases, where you were told that it is necessary to prove only that a fact is
more likely true than not true. In
criminal cases, the State’s proof must be more powerful than that. It must be beyond a reasonable doubt.
A reasonable doubt is an honest and
reasonable uncertainty in your minds about the guilt of the defendant after you
have given full and impartial consideration to all of the evidence. A reasonable doubt may arise from the evidence
itself or from a lack of evidence. It is
a doubt that a reasonable person hearing the same evidence would have.
Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof,
for example, that leaves you firmly convinced of the defendant's guilt. In this world, we know very few things with
absolute certainty. In criminal cases
the law does not require proof that overcomes every possible doubt. If, based on your consideration of the
evidence, you are firmly convinced that the defendant is guilty of the crime
charged, you must find him/her
guilty. If, on the other hand, you are
not firmly convinced of defendant's guilt, you must give the defendant the
benefit of the doubt and find him/her
not guilty.
You will have to apply the law as I give
it to you regardless of your own personal feelings about it.
As this is a criminal case, your verdict
must be unanimous; that is, all 12 deliberating jurors must agree upon the
verdict.[3]
I would like to first introduce to you
the attorneys. The State of New Jersey will be represented throughout these
proceedings by _______________. I would
like (him/her) to rise and introduce (himself/herself) to you. The defendant
will be represented by ________________.[4]
I would like (him/her) to rise and
introduce (himself/herself) to you, and (his/her) client.
(Conduct
the Voir Dire)
As you may have noticed, defendant is
dressed in [jail] [prison] garb. You
must not speculate about the reason the defendant is wearing such
clothing. The fact that (NAME OF
DEFENDANT) is dressed in [jail] [prison] clothing is irrelevant to the issue of
whether the State has proven defendant’s guilt of the charge(s) beyond a
reasonable doubt and cannot form the basis of any discussion during your
deliberations. Will any of you have any
difficulty in carrying out my instruction on this matter?
[CHARGE NOW IF NOT
PREVIOUSLY CHARGED BEFORE FIRST BREAK]
INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING JUROR RESEARCH
FIRST RECESS
In
a few minutes you will be excused for a short break. I instruct that you must not discuss this
case among yourselves or with anyone else during this or any other recess.
No one is permitted to talk to you
about this case outside the courtroom.
If you should see any of the attorneys or parties and they do not greet
you, do not be offended or think that they are being rude. They are not permitted to talk to you. If anyone approaches you and tries to talk
about this case report that to me or my staff immediately without discussing it
with your fellow jurors. Do NOT discuss
anything about this case with your fellow jurors until I instruct you to do so
at the end of the case after you have heard all of the evidence produced in
this courtroom, heard the summations of the lawyers, heard my instructions to
you about the law. Once I instruct you
to begin your deliberations in the privacy of the jury room that will be the
first time you can discuss this case. You may NOT have any discussions with anyone
before then about this case.
During this or any other recess, or
when you go home at the end of the day, I instruct you NOT to discuss this case
with anyone such as your fellow jurors, friends, co-workers or family
members. Do NOT text them, phone them,
e-mail them, tweet them about this case by any means either in person or by any
electronic means. Every conversation
about a jury trial begins with just a single sentence no matter how
innocent. If you start talking about
this trial with someone else, that person will say something that might affect
your thinking about the facts of this case.
That would obviously be unfair to both parties in this case because what
some other person says outside this courtroom is NOT evidence in this case.
I instruct you not to read or have
anyone read to you any newspaper accounts or search the internet for any media
accounts about this trial or read or have anyone read to you or search the Internet
for blogs, tweets or Facebook pages about any persons, topics or places related
to this case. I also instruct you not to
visit the scene(s) of the incident(s) or try to view (it/them) on the Internet
through Mapquest or Google Earth type sites.
Do not do any legal or factual research about anyone or any topic
connected to this case. You are NOT here
as investigators.
If you are sworn as jurors in this
case, you will become the sole judges of the facts, so you must remain
impartial throughout the trial. You must
decide the facts of this case solely from the evidence produced in this
courtroom and NOTHING ELSE. It would be
unfair and a violation of your oath as jurors to base your decision about the
facts of this case upon something that was said to you or discovered by you
outside this courtroom.
[1] See State
v. W.A. 184 N.J. 45 (2005), advising that the defendant has the
right to be present during voir dire sidebar conferences but must
request to be present.
[2] At the
least, the jury must be asked whether they understand the basic principles of
presumption of innocence and those governing the indictment and whether they
can abide by these principles. State v. Lumumba, 253 N.J. Super. 375,
394 (App. Div. 1992).
[3]
See State v. Milton, 178 N.J. 421
(2004), setting forth the process to be used to determine the unanimity of the
verdict.