Also known as: jury instructions · jury charge · charge to the jury
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A court's statement to the jury explaining the legal standards and rules that govern the case and that the jury must apply in reaching its verdict. The statement guides the jury's deliberations by identifying the elements of claims or defenses and the burdens of proof.
Jacob Jennings, plaintiff in a contract dispute against Jennings Forge, submitted written requests for jury instructions on breach and damages at the close of evidence. The court reviewed the requests and incorporated several into the charge delivered before deliberations began. The jury then applied those standards to the facts and returned a verdict for Jennings.
Joy Jiang sued a publisher for false light invasion of privacy after a magazine article portrayed her family in a fictionalized story. The trial judge gave the jury an instruction limiting compensatory damages to proven actual injury. The jury awarded damages only after finding the article caused reputational harm supported by the evidence.
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Jorge Juarez, a private citizen, brought a defamation action against a newsletter that published false statements about his business practices. The court instructed the jury that it could award damages only for actual injury shown by competent evidence. The jury followed the instruction and limited its award to documented losses rather than presumed harm.
June Jiang sued a credit reporting agency for publishing a false report that harmed her construction company's reputation. The trial court instructed the jury that negligence rather than actual malice was the appropriate fault standard because the plaintiff was a private figure. The jury applied that standard and found liability.
Javier Jimenez was tried for a drug offense after a lab analyst testified about DNA matches. The court gave a jury instruction explaining that hypothetical questions posed to experts were not evidence and that the jury must decide whether the assumed facts were proven. The jury convicted only after determining the underlying facts supported the expert opinions.
Jada Jones raised an insanity defense in a federal prosecution for assault. The trial judge instructed the jury that every person is presumed sane until the defense proves otherwise by a preponderance of the evidence. The jury deliberated under that standard and rejected the defense.
A party may file and furnish written requests for the jury instructions it wants the court to give at the close of the evidence or at any earlier reasonable time the court orders.
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Yes. Such an instruction creates an unconstitutional mandatory presumption that shifts the burden to the defendant to disprove intent, violating the requirement that the state prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt.
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No. The Constitution does not require instructions on all lesser included offenses in capital cases even when the facts support them.
When the defendant's future dangerousness is at issue and life without parole is the only alternative to death, due process entitles the defendant to inform the jury of parole ineligibility through an instruction or counsel's argument.
…compensation for actual injury. We need not define "actual injury," as trial courts have wide experience in framing appropriate jury instructions in tort actions. Suffice it to say that actual injury is not limited to out-of-pocket loss. Indeed, the more customary types of actual harm inflicted by defamatory falsehood include…