September 5, 2012: At the Spring 2012 meeting, the committee took the following actions: (1) a revised definition of the mental state of “willfulness” throughout the instructions; (2) new instructions on juror use of electronic devices, following State v. Abdi, 2012 VT 4; and (3) new instructions on interference with access to emergency services. All of these changes have been added to the website.
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Welcome to the Vermont Model Criminal Jury Instructions. The instructions are sponsored by the Vermont Bar Association.
Use the drop-down menus above or the search function below to find individual instructions and the accompanying reporter's notes.
In addition, clicking on the menu headers above will show a table of contents for that section, and there is also a master table of contents available. Long-time users of the instructions will find the master table of contents to be in the familiar format.
Search for an Instruction:
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You may search for an instruction by using the name of the crime (e.g., kidnapping) or by using the statutory citation (e.g., 13 V.S.A. 2405 or, more simply, 2405). Note that the search software is simply reading the text on each page, and thus doesn't recognize "VSA" without the periods.