Free Proposed Jury Instructions - District Court of Colorado - Colorado

Case 1:00-cv-02098-REB-MJW

Document 252-2

Filed 09/14/2007

Page 1 of 3

INSTRUCTION NO. 1 Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury: Now that you have heard the evidence and will soon hear argument, it becomes my duty to give you the instructions of the court as to the law applicable to this case. It is your duty as jurors to follow the law as I shall state it to you, and to apply the law to the facts as you find them from the evidence in the case. You are not to single out one instruction alone as stating the law, but must consider the instructions as a whole. Neither are you to be concerned with the wisdom of any rule of law stated by me. Counsel may quite properly refer to some of the governing rules of law in their arguments. If, however, any difference appears to you between the law as stated by counsel and that stated by the court in these instructions, you are, of course, to be governed by the court's instructions. Nothing I say in these instructions is to be taken as an indication that I have any opinion about the facts of the case, or what that opinion is. It is not my function to determine the facts, but rather yours. You must perform your duties as jurors without bias or prejudice as to any party. The law does not permit you to be governed by sympathy, bias, prejudice, or public opinion. All parties expect that you will carefully and impartially consider all of the evidence, follow the law as it is now being given to you, and reach a just verdict, regardless of the consequences. Anything you may have seen or heard outside the courtroom is not evidence, and must be disregarded entirely. REB-1

Case 1:00-cv-02098-REB-MJW

Document 252-2

Filed 09/14/2007

Page 2 of 3

Statements and arguments of counsel are not evidence in the case. However, when the attorneys on both sides have stipulated or agreed as to the existence of a fact, the jury must, unless otherwise instructed, accept the stipulation and regard that fact as proved. Unless you are otherwise instructed, the evidence in the case consists of the sworn testimony of the witnesses, regardless of who may have called them, all exhibits received in evidence, regardless of who may have produced them, and all facts which may have been admitted, stipulated, or judicially noticed. The mere number of witnesses appearing for or against a particular fact, issue, or proposition does not in and of itself prove or disprove that fact, issue, or proposition. Any evidence as to which an objection was sustained by the court, and any evidence ordered stricken by the court, must be disregarded entirely . You are to consider only the evidence in the case. However, in your consideration of the evidence, you are not limited to just the statements of the witnesses. In other words, you are not limited solely to what you see and hear as the witnesses testified. You are permitted to draw, from the facts which you find have been proved, such reasonable inferences as you feel are justified in the light of your experience. At the end of the trial you will have to make your decision based on what you recall of the evidence. You will not have a written transcript to consult, and it

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Case 1:00-cv-02098-REB-MJW

Document 252-2

Filed 09/14/2007

Page 3 of 3

is difficult and time consuming for the reporter to read back lengthy testimony. The verdict must represent the considered judgment of each juror. In order to return a verdict, it is necessary that each juror agree. Any verdict must be unanimous. It is your duty, as jurors, to consult with one another and to deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement, if you can do so without violence to individual judgment. You must each decide the case for yourself, but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence in the case with your fellow jurors. In the course of your deliberations, do not hesitate to reexamine your own views, and change your opinion, if convinced it is erroneous. However, do not surrender your honest conviction as to the weight or effect of evidence solely because of the opinion of your fellow jurors, or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict. Remember at all times that you are not partisans. You are judges ­ judges of the facts. Your sole interest is to seek the truth from the evidence in the case and return a just verdict based upon the evidence in the case and the law as the court has presented it to you.

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