107.

Sample Fair Housing Jury Instructions—General

PLAINTIFF'S PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION NO. Members of the jury, the instructions I gave at the beginning of the trial and during the trial remain in effect. I now give you some additional instructions. You must, of course, continue to follow the instructions I gave you earlier, as well as those I give you now. You must not single out some instructions and ignore others, because all are important, This is true even though some of those I gave you at the beginning of the trial are not repeated here. The instructions I am about to give you now as well as those I gave you earlier are in writing and will be available to you in the jury room. I emphasize, however, that this does not mean they are more important than my earlier instructions. Again, all instructions, whenever given and whether in writing or not, must be followed. Plaintiff's Instruction No. SOURCE: Manual of Model Civil Jury Instructions for the District Courts of the Eighth Circuit (1993 Edition) § 3.01 PLAINTIFF'S PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION NO. In deciding what the facts are, you may have to decide what testimony you believe and what testimony you do not believe. You may believe all of what a witness said, or only part of it, or none of it. In deciding what testimony to believe, you may consider the witness' intelligence, the opportunity the witness had to have seen or heard the things testified about, the witness' memory, any motives that witness may have for testifying a certain way, the manner of the witness while testifying, whether that witness said something different at an earlier time, the general reasonableness of the testimony, and the extent to which the testimony is consistent with any evidence that you believe. In deciding whether or not to believe a witness, keep in mind that people sometimes hear or see things differently and sometimes forget things. You need to consider therefore whether a contradiction is an innocent misrecollection or lapse of memory or an intentional falsehood, and that may depend on whether it has to do with an important fact or only a small detail. Plaintiff's Instruction No. SOURCE: Manual of Model Civil Jury Instructions for the District Courts of the Eighth Circuit (1993Edition) § 3.03 PLAINTIFF'S PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION NO. In these instructions you are told that your verdict depends on whether you find certain facts have been proved. The burden of proving a fact is upon the party whose claim depends upon that fact. The party who has the burden of proving a fact must provide it by the preponderance of the evidence. To prove something by the preponderance of the evidence is to prove that it is more likely true than not true. It is determined by considering all of the evidence and deciding which evidence is more believable. If, on any issue in the case, the evidence is equally balanced, you cannot find that issue has been proved. The preponderance of the evidence is not necessarily determined by the greater number of witnesses or exhibits a party has presented. You may have heard of the term "proof beyond a reasonable doubt." That is a stricter standard which applies in criminal cases. It does not apply in civil cases such as this. You should, therefore, put it out of your minds. Plaintiff's Instruction No. SOURCE: Manual of Model Civil Jury Instructions for the District Courts of the Eighth Circuit (1993 Edition) § 3.04 PLAINTIFF'S PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTION NO. You have heard testimony from persons described as experts. Persons who, by knowledge, skill, training, education or experience have become expert in some field may state their opinions on matters in that field and may also state the reasons for their opinion. Expert testimony should be considered just like any other testimony. You may accept or reject it, and give it as much weight as you think it deserves, considering the witnesses education and experience, the soundness of the reasons given for the opinion, the acceptability of the methods used, and all other evidence in the case. Plaintiff's Instruction No. SOURCE: [cited in Civil Rights Resource Manual 60]