SERIES 3500 POST-TRIAL: CONCLUDING
F 3590 Final Instruction on Discharge of Jury (CCP 206, 237)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
F 3590 Inst 1 Post-Trial Instructions: Admonition Regarding Media Coverage
F 3590 NOTES
F 3590 Note 1 Post-Trial Instructions: No Judicial Comment On Verdict Or Mistrial—Judge Must Not Commend Or Criticize Verdict
F 3590 Note 2 Access To Jurors’ Names And Addresses
Return to Series 3500 Table of Contents.
F 3590 Inst 1 Post-Trial Instructions: Admonition Regarding Media Coverage
*Add to CC 3590:
There has been a lot of media coverage of this trial. Now that the trial is over, reporters for the press and other media may want to interview you. They have a right, backed by the Constitution, to try to question any or all of you. Each of you, however, are free to choose whether or not to answer questions. You have all performed your duty as jurors and are free to return to the privacy of your own lives. You may decline to be interviewed, answer “no comment” to individual questions, or stop an interview at any time.
Points and Authorities
The above instruction regarding media coverage is taken from an article in ABA Criminal Justice Magazine discussing how the court can prepare jurors to meet the press. (Arthur Murray and Christine Kellett, Meet the Press: How the Court Can Prepare Jurors, ABA Criminal Justice Magazine (Winter 1996) p. 8.)
Identification Of Parties— See FORECITE F 100.2 Note 1.
WARNING! Federal constitutional claims may be lost without proper federalization.—To preserve federal claims, counsel should add the applicable constitutional provisions and authority to the above points and authorities and explain how those provisions will be violated under the circumstances of this case. Potential constitutional grounds for this request include, but are not limited to:
FORECITE CG 7.5 [Fair And Unbiased Jury]
In death penalty cases, additional federal claims should be added including, but not limited to, those in FORECITE CG 13.
CALJIC NOTE: See FORECITE F 17.90b.
F 3590 NOTES
F 3590 Note 1 Post-Trial Instructions: No Judicial Comment On Verdict Or Mistrial—Judge Must Not Commend Or Criticize Verdict
“At the conclusion of a trial, or upon declaring a mistrial for failure of a jury to reach a verdict, it is appropriate for the trial judge to thank jurors for their public service, but the judge’s comments should not include praise or criticism of the verdict or the failure to reach a verdict.” (Appendix to Calif. Rules of Court, Div. I, §14 (1999).)
Canon 3 (10) of the Calif. Code of Judicial Ethics adopted by the Supreme Court January 15, 1996, states that: “A judge shall not commend or criticize jurors for their verdict other than in a court order or opinion in a proceeding, but may express appreciation to jurors for their service to the judicial system and the community.” The advisory committee commentary states that the rationale for this rule is to avoid any implication of a judicial expectation in future cases which may impair a juror’s ability to be fair and impartial in a subsequent case. (Ibid.)
CALJIC NOTE: See FORECITE F 17.90 n1.
F 3590 Note 2 Access To Jurors‘ Names And Addresses
See FORECITE PRACTICE GUIDE PG X(M).
