3.1 Jury Charge

• Library: Federal Civil Jury Instructions for the Fifth Circuit
• Edition: 2020
• Section: Jury Charge

3.1 Jury Charge

MEMBERS OF THE JURY:

It is my duty and responsibility to instruct you on

the law you are to apply in this case. The law contained

in these instructions is the only law you may follow. It

is your duty to follow what I instruct you the law is,

regardless of any opinion that you might have as to

what the law ought to be.

If I have given you the impression during the trial

that I favor either party, you must disregard that

impression. If I have given you the impression during

the trial that I have an opinion about the facts of this

case, you must disregard that impression. You are the

sole judges of the facts of this case. Other than my

instructions to you on the law, you should disregard

anything I may have said or done during the trial in ar-

riving at your verdict.

You should consider all of the instructions about

the law as a whole and regard each instruction in light

of the others, without isolating a particular statement

or paragraph.

The testimony of the witnesses and other exhibits

introduced by the parties constitute the evidence. The

statements of counsel are not evidence; they are only

arguments. It is important for you to distinguish be-

tween the arguments of counsel and the evidence on

which those arguments rest. What the lawyers say or

do is not evidence. You may, however, consider their

arguments in light of the evidence that has been admit-

ted and determine whether the evidence admitted in

this trial supports the arguments. You must determine

the facts from all the testimony that you have heard

and the other evidence submitted. You are the judges of

the facts, but in finding those facts, you must apply the

law as I instruct you.

3.1 PATTERN JURY INSTRUCTIONS

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