GENERAL CRIMINAL CHARGE
GREGORY P. AUCOIN, DISTRICT JUDGE
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury:
You have heard the evidence and the argument of counsel. It is now my duty to instruct you on the law in this case.
I will first instruct you on certain general points of law applicable to every criminal jury trial. I will then instruct you concerning the particular crime with which the accused is charged, as well as the lesser and responsive offenses included therein.
You must not single out any of these instructions and disregard others. The order in which the instructions are given does not indicate that one is more important than another.
INDICTMENT NOT EVIDENCE
The bill of information filed in this case is not evidence of defendant's guilt. It is merely the formal manner by which the state accuses a person of a crime in order to bring him to trial. The jury must not infer guilt of a defendant merely because of a bill of information has been filed.
PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE: BURDEN OF PROOF
A person accused of a crime is presumed by law to be innocent until each element of the crime, necessary to constitute guilt, is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant is not required to prove that he is innocent. Thus, a defendant begins the trial with a clean slate.
The burden is upon the state to prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In considering the evidence, you must give the defendant the benefit of every reasonable doubt arising out of the evidence or out of the lack of evidence. If you are not convinced of the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, you must find him/her not guilty.
REASONABLE DOUBT
While the state must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, it does not have to prove guilt beyond all possible doubt. Reasonable doubt is doubt based on reason and common sense and is present when, after you have carefully considered all the evidence, you cannot say that you are firmly convinced of the truth of the charge.
EVIDENCE - DIRECT AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL
There are two methods by which facts can be established: these are direct and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence is evidence which, if believed, proves a fact at issue. Circumstantial or indirect evidence is evidence which, if believed, proves a fact, and from that fact you may logically and reasonably conclude that another, material fact exists. You cannot find a defendant guilty solely on circumstantial evidence unless the facts proven by the evidence exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.
I will give you an example of the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence. Assume it rained last night and evidence is being offered to prove that fact. 1) if a witness testifies that he saw, with his own eyes, rain falling last night, that is direct evidence. 2) if a witness testifies that before he went to sleep the ground was dry, but when he awoke he went outside and found the grass to be wet, the dirt now mud, and in the sky there was a rainbow, that would be circumstantial evidence that it rained last night. What it does, if believed, is prove exactly what the witness saw, and from the circumstances of that fact, one may logically conclude that another fact exists; that is, that it rained last night.
A jury may convict upon circumstantial evidence as well as upon direct evidence, if such evidence establishes the guilt of the accused, beyond a reasonable doubt.
DEFENDANT’S RIGHT NOT TO TESTIFY
A defendant in a criminal case cannot be compelled to take the witness stand and testify. He has the absolute right not to testify. The jury must not draw a presumption of guilt or any inference against the defendant because he did not testify. The defendant need not prove innocence --- he need not prove anything.
DUTY OF JURY REGARDING EVIDENCE
You must determine whether or not a fact has been proven only from the evidence presented or from the lack of evidence. The evidence which you should consider consists of the testimony of witnesses and of exhibits (such as writings and physical objects) which the court has permitted the parties to introduce.
You must consider only evidence which was admitted during the trial. You may not consider evidence which you were instructed to disregard or to which an objection was sustained.
As jurors you alone determine the weight and credibility of the evidence. As the sole judges of the credibility of witnesses and of the weight their testimony deserves, you should scrutinize carefully the testimony and the circumstances under which the witness has testified. In evaluating the testimony of a witness, you may consider ability and opportunity to observe and remember the matter, the manner while testifying, any reason for testifying in favor of or against the state or the defendant, and the extent to which the testimony is supported or contradicted by other evidence. You do not have to accept all of the testimony of a witness as being true or false. You may accept and believe those parts of the testimony that you consider logical and reasonable, and reject those parts that seem impossible or unlikely or you may reject the testimony of a witness entirely.
The testimony of a witness may be discredited by showing that the witness will benefit in some way by the defendant’s conviction or acquittal, that the witness is prejudiced, or that the witness has any other reason or motive for not telling the truth.
The testimony of a witness may be discredited by showing that the witness made a prior statement which contradicts or is inconsistent with his present testimony. Such prior statements are admitted only to attempt to discredit the witness -- not to show that the statements are true.
The testimony of a witness may be discredited by showing that the witness previously was convicted of a crime. The conviction does not necessarily mean that the witness is failing to tell the truth. It is a circumstance you may consider, along with all other evidence, in deciding whether you believe any or all of his testimony.
A stipulation by and between the attorneys as to the existence of a fact must be accepted by you as evidence, and you must regard that fact as conclusively proved.
If the state offers evidence of a statement made by the defendant, you must first determine whether the statement was, in fact, made. You must also consider whether the statement, if made, was accurately recorded or repeated.
If you find that the defendant made a statement, you must also determine the weight or value that the statement should be accorded, if any. In determining the weight or value to be accorded a statement made by the defendant, you should consider all the circumstances under which the statement was made. In making that determination, you should consider whether the statement was made freely and voluntarily, without the influence of fear, duress, threats, intimidation, inducements or promises.
(PUT IN CHARGE)
In reaching your decision, or verdict, you need not concern yourselves with the sentence which might be imposed in the event you find this defendant guilty of any responsive crime. Your duty is to decide from the evidence the question of innocence or guilt, under the law. If a sentence is to be imposed under any verdict you may render, that decision and sentence is th duty and responsibility of the court alone, within the limits of the law and not the jury’s.
DELIBERATION INSTRUCTIONS
When you retire to the jury room, you will first select a foreperson or presiding juror, either a man or woman, to preside over your deliberations. Then you begin. You must now remain separated from other people. If you have a question about the procedures, knock on the door and the bailiff will assist you. Similarly, if you need further instructions, write your question on a piece of paper and deliver it to the bailiff. Please be sure not to reflect or reveal your vote or your present thinking when you do so.
It is your duty to follow these instructions in reaching your verdict. Although you are the sole judges of the law and the facts on the question of guilt or innocence, you have a duty to accept and apply the law as given by the court. You must decide the facts from the testimony and other evidence and apply the law to those facts in reaching your verdict. As jurors, you are not to be influenced by mere sympathy, passion, prejudice, or public opinion. You are expected to reach a just verdict.
It is your duty 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 re-examine your own views, and change your opinion, if convinced it is erroneous. But 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.
Let me say that it is usually not a good idea for a juror, when first entering the jury room, to make an emphatic expression of opinion on the case or announce a determination to stand for a certain verdict. When one does that at the outset, a sense of pride may be at issue; one may hesitate to back down from an announced position, even if shown to be wrong. Remember, you are not advocates in this matter, but rather you are the judges. Your sole interest is to seek the truth from the evidence in the case.
Your verdict need not be unanimous. Six (6) must agree. When six (6) of you agree upon the same verdict, whatever it might be, you may render it. Unless six (6)of you agree on a verdict, no verdict can be returned. When you have agreed, your foreman shall write that verdict on the back of the list of verdicts, sign the verdict and complete the date.
When you have arrived at your verdict, notify the bailiff who will be waiting outside your deliberation room. The bailiff will notify the court. Under no circumstances shall you reveal your decision before it is announced in court.
Excuse alternate jurors.
Your may now retire to begin your deliberations. The court will await your verdict.
STATE OF LOUISIANA 16TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
VERSUS # PARISH OF ST. MARY
_______________________ STATE OF LOUISIANA
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
LIST OF VERDICTS
STATE OF LOUISIANA 16TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
VERSUS NO. _________ PARISH OF ST. MARY
________________________ STATE OF LOUISIANA
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WE, THE JURY, FIND THE DEFENDANT
____________________________________________________,
__________________________________________________________
(DATE)
__________________________________________________________
FOREMAN
GREGORY P. AUCOIN, DISTRICT JUDGE
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury:
You have heard the evidence and the argument of counsel. It is now my duty to instruct you on the law in this case.
I will first instruct you on certain general points of law applicable to every criminal jury trial. I will then instruct you concerning the particular crime with which the accused is charged, as well as the lesser and responsive offenses included therein.
You must not single out any of these instructions and disregard others. The order in which the instructions are given does not indicate that one is more important than another.
INDICTMENT NOT EVIDENCE
The bill of information filed in this case is not evidence of defendant's guilt. It is merely the formal manner by which the state accuses a person of a crime in order to bring him to trial. The jury must not infer guilt of a defendant merely because of a bill of information has been filed.
PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE: BURDEN OF PROOF
A person accused of a crime is presumed by law to be innocent until each element of the crime, necessary to constitute guilt, is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant is not required to prove that he is innocent. Thus, a defendant begins the trial with a clean slate.
The burden is upon the state to prove the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In considering the evidence, you must give the defendant the benefit of every reasonable doubt arising out of the evidence or out of the lack of evidence. If you are not convinced of the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, you must find him/her not guilty.
REASONABLE DOUBT
While the state must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, it does not have to prove guilt beyond all possible doubt. Reasonable doubt is doubt based on reason and common sense and is present when, after you have carefully considered all the evidence, you cannot say that you are firmly convinced of the truth of the charge.
EVIDENCE - DIRECT AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL
There are two methods by which facts can be established: these are direct and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence is evidence which, if believed, proves a fact at issue. Circumstantial or indirect evidence is evidence which, if believed, proves a fact, and from that fact you may logically and reasonably conclude that another, material fact exists. You cannot find a defendant guilty solely on circumstantial evidence unless the facts proven by the evidence exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.
I will give you an example of the difference between direct and circumstantial evidence. Assume it rained last night and evidence is being offered to prove that fact. 1) if a witness testifies that he saw, with his own eyes, rain falling last night, that is direct evidence. 2) if a witness testifies that before he went to sleep the ground was dry, but when he awoke he went outside and found the grass to be wet, the dirt now mud, and in the sky there was a rainbow, that would be circumstantial evidence that it rained last night. What it does, if believed, is prove exactly what the witness saw, and from the circumstances of that fact, one may logically conclude that another fact exists; that is, that it rained last night.
A jury may convict upon circumstantial evidence as well as upon direct evidence, if such evidence establishes the guilt of the accused, beyond a reasonable doubt.
DEFENDANT’S RIGHT NOT TO TESTIFY
A defendant in a criminal case cannot be compelled to take the witness stand and testify. He has the absolute right not to testify. The jury must not draw a presumption of guilt or any inference against the defendant because he did not testify. The defendant need not prove innocence --- he need not prove anything.
DUTY OF JURY REGARDING EVIDENCE
You must determine whether or not a fact has been proven only from the evidence presented or from the lack of evidence. The evidence which you should consider consists of the testimony of witnesses and of exhibits (such as writings and physical objects) which the court has permitted the parties to introduce.
You must consider only evidence which was admitted during the trial. You may not consider evidence which you were instructed to disregard or to which an objection was sustained.
As jurors you alone determine the weight and credibility of the evidence. As the sole judges of the credibility of witnesses and of the weight their testimony deserves, you should scrutinize carefully the testimony and the circumstances under which the witness has testified. In evaluating the testimony of a witness, you may consider ability and opportunity to observe and remember the matter, the manner while testifying, any reason for testifying in favor of or against the state or the defendant, and the extent to which the testimony is supported or contradicted by other evidence. You do not have to accept all of the testimony of a witness as being true or false. You may accept and believe those parts of the testimony that you consider logical and reasonable, and reject those parts that seem impossible or unlikely or you may reject the testimony of a witness entirely.
The testimony of a witness may be discredited by showing that the witness will benefit in some way by the defendant’s conviction or acquittal, that the witness is prejudiced, or that the witness has any other reason or motive for not telling the truth.
The testimony of a witness may be discredited by showing that the witness made a prior statement which contradicts or is inconsistent with his present testimony. Such prior statements are admitted only to attempt to discredit the witness -- not to show that the statements are true.
The testimony of a witness may be discredited by showing that the witness previously was convicted of a crime. The conviction does not necessarily mean that the witness is failing to tell the truth. It is a circumstance you may consider, along with all other evidence, in deciding whether you believe any or all of his testimony.
A stipulation by and between the attorneys as to the existence of a fact must be accepted by you as evidence, and you must regard that fact as conclusively proved.
If the state offers evidence of a statement made by the defendant, you must first determine whether the statement was, in fact, made. You must also consider whether the statement, if made, was accurately recorded or repeated.
If you find that the defendant made a statement, you must also determine the weight or value that the statement should be accorded, if any. In determining the weight or value to be accorded a statement made by the defendant, you should consider all the circumstances under which the statement was made. In making that determination, you should consider whether the statement was made freely and voluntarily, without the influence of fear, duress, threats, intimidation, inducements or promises.
(PUT IN CHARGE)
In reaching your decision, or verdict, you need not concern yourselves with the sentence which might be imposed in the event you find this defendant guilty of any responsive crime. Your duty is to decide from the evidence the question of innocence or guilt, under the law. If a sentence is to be imposed under any verdict you may render, that decision and sentence is th duty and responsibility of the court alone, within the limits of the law and not the jury’s.
DELIBERATION INSTRUCTIONS
When you retire to the jury room, you will first select a foreperson or presiding juror, either a man or woman, to preside over your deliberations. Then you begin. You must now remain separated from other people. If you have a question about the procedures, knock on the door and the bailiff will assist you. Similarly, if you need further instructions, write your question on a piece of paper and deliver it to the bailiff. Please be sure not to reflect or reveal your vote or your present thinking when you do so.
It is your duty to follow these instructions in reaching your verdict. Although you are the sole judges of the law and the facts on the question of guilt or innocence, you have a duty to accept and apply the law as given by the court. You must decide the facts from the testimony and other evidence and apply the law to those facts in reaching your verdict. As jurors, you are not to be influenced by mere sympathy, passion, prejudice, or public opinion. You are expected to reach a just verdict.
It is your duty 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 re-examine your own views, and change your opinion, if convinced it is erroneous. But 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.
Let me say that it is usually not a good idea for a juror, when first entering the jury room, to make an emphatic expression of opinion on the case or announce a determination to stand for a certain verdict. When one does that at the outset, a sense of pride may be at issue; one may hesitate to back down from an announced position, even if shown to be wrong. Remember, you are not advocates in this matter, but rather you are the judges. Your sole interest is to seek the truth from the evidence in the case.
Your verdict need not be unanimous. Six (6) must agree. When six (6) of you agree upon the same verdict, whatever it might be, you may render it. Unless six (6)of you agree on a verdict, no verdict can be returned. When you have agreed, your foreman shall write that verdict on the back of the list of verdicts, sign the verdict and complete the date.
When you have arrived at your verdict, notify the bailiff who will be waiting outside your deliberation room. The bailiff will notify the court. Under no circumstances shall you reveal your decision before it is announced in court.
Excuse alternate jurors.
Your may now retire to begin your deliberations. The court will await your verdict.
STATE OF LOUISIANA 16TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
VERSUS # PARISH OF ST. MARY
_______________________ STATE OF LOUISIANA
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
LIST OF VERDICTS
STATE OF LOUISIANA 16TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT
VERSUS NO. _________ PARISH OF ST. MARY
________________________ STATE OF LOUISIANA
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
WE, THE JURY, FIND THE DEFENDANT
____________________________________________________,
__________________________________________________________
(DATE)
__________________________________________________________
FOREMAN
