Jury Instructions

Jury instructions are the set of legal rules that jurors should follow when the jury is deciding a civil or criminal case. Jury instructions are given to the jury by the judge, who usually reads them aloud to the jury. They are often the subject of discussion by attorneys on both sides in the case and the judge in order to make sure their interests are represented and nothing prejudicial is considered by the jury.

Under the Florida judicial system, juries are the trier of fact when they serve in a trial. It is the jury's job to sort through the disputed accounts presented in evidence. The judge decides questions of law, meaning he or she decides how the law applies to a given set of facts. The jury instructions provide something of a flow chart, based on the legal decisions of the judge, on what verdict jurors should deliver based on what they determine to be true. Put another way, "If you believe A (set of facts), you must find X (verdict). If you believe B (set of facts), you must find Y (verdict)."

The Florida Supreme Court provides model jury instructions for use throughout Florida, which can be found at: http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/jury_instructions.shtml