{"id":551,"date":"2012-07-27T17:43:12","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T17:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=551"},"modified":"2012-09-06T15:45:25","modified_gmt":"2012-09-06T15:45:25","slug":"general-instructions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=551","title":{"rendered":"General Instructions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><\/strong>The committee has prepared\u00a0the following instructions for general situations that commonly arise before and during criminal trials, and during juror deliberations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Preliminary Statements (at jury draw, or at the beginning of the first day of trial)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Questions for the jurors (have you heard anything about the case, etc.)<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Statement about juror note-taking<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Use of electronic devices, and other things jurors shouldn&#8217;t do during trial<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Use of interpreters<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Standard (&#8220;Boilerplate&#8221;) Instructions<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Introduction to the jury charge<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reading of the charge<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A criminal information is not evidence<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Instructions on &#8220;on or about&#8221; and &#8220;at or about&#8221;<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jurors should not\u00a0not consider delay or consequences<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">How to understand rulings of court<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jurors should not be swayed by sympathy or prejudice<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Important case<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Closing Remarks<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Jury deliberations<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Reminder about note taking and recollection of the evidence<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Foreperson&#8217;s duties<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Use of electronic devices during deliberations.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Burdens of Proof<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Proof of essential elements<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Separate counts<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Presumption of innocence<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Juror unanimity<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Proof beyond a reasonable doubt<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Proof by a preponderance of evidence<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Burden of proof on self-defense<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Burden of proof on an affirmative defense<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Evidence<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">A general explanation of &#8220;evidence,&#8221; the statements of attorneys, and exhibits<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Circumstantial evidence<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Number of witnesses<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Stipulations of fact<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>Credibility of witnesses, including experts, police officers, child witnesses, 804a statements, accomplices, co-conspirators, informants, and witnesses testifying under agreements<\/li>\n<li>Impeachment of witnesses<\/li>\n<li>Defendant&#8217;s out-of-court statements, testimony, and character<\/li>\n<li>Identification testimony<\/li>\n<li>Lost evidence<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Mental Elements<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Circumstantial proof of intent<\/li>\n<li>Intent, specific intent, and general intent<\/li>\n<li>Common-law and Model Penal Codemens readefinitions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Defenses<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Self defense, defense of another, defense of property<\/li>\n<li>Diminished capacity and intoxication<\/li>\n<li>Insanity<\/li>\n<li>Necessity<\/li>\n<li>Entrapment<\/li>\n<li>Duress<\/li>\n<li>Other miscellaneous defenses<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Hung Juries<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Allen charge<\/li>\n<li>Partial verdict charge<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The committee has prepared\u00a0the following instructions for general situations that commonly arise before and during criminal trials, and during juror deliberations. Preliminary Statements (at jury draw, or at the beginning of the first day of trial) Questions for the jurors &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/?page_id=551\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-551","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=551"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/551\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vtjuryinstructions.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}