Sunday, September 13, 2009

New jury instruction on juror behavior

MCivJI 2.06 has been revised to instruct jurors that they may not -
  1. discuss the case with others, or among themselves
  2. read or watch news reports about the case
  3. use a computer or other electronic device while in the courtroom or in the jury room
  4. use a computer or other electronic device at any time to obtain information about the case
  5. visit the scene of the occurrence
  6. do any investigations or experiments on their own.
Interestingly, the instruction does not mention posting by jurors of information about the trial on a web site or social interaction site.

Effective 9-1-09. This amendment corresponds to the amendment of MCR 2.511.

Two other instructions, 2.07 and 2.12, were deleted, since their provisions are now incorporated in this one.