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2.9-9 Instruction When Jury
Fails To Agree ("Chip Smith")
Revised to January 1, 2008
The instructions that I shall give you
now are only to provide you with additional information so that you may return
to your deliberations and see whether you can arrive at a verdict.
Along these lines, I would like to
state the following to you. The verdict to which each of you agrees must
express your own conclusion and not merely the acquiescence in the conclusion of
your fellow jurors. Yet, in order to bring your minds to a unanimous result,
you should consider the question you have to decide not only carefully but also
with due regard and deference to the opinions of each other.
In conferring together, you ought to
pay proper respect to each other's opinions and listen with an open mind to each
other's arguments. If the much greater number of you reach a certain
conclusion, dissenting jurors should consider whether their opinion is a
reasonable one when the evidence does not lend itself to a similar result in the
minds of so many of you who are equally honest and equally intelligent, who have
heard the same evidence with an equal desire to arrive at the truth and under
the sanctions of the same oath.
But please remember this. Do not ever
change your mind just because other jurors see things differently or to get the
case over with. As I told you before, in the end, your vote must be exactly
that - your own vote. As important as it is for you to reach a unanimous
agreement, it is just as important that you do so honestly and in good
conscience.
What I have said to you is not
intended to rush you into agreeing on a verdict. Take as much time as you need
to discuss the matter. There is no need to hurry.
Authority
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