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Welcome to The Forecite Blog™ -- Criminal Jury Instructions Prepared by Tom Lundy. This is a blog about criminal jury instructions from the defense perspective. The goal of the blog is to highlight recent state and federal cases which suggest issues and strategies relevant to jury instruction practice. The blog will also include selected sample instructions from recent cases.

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Thomas F. Lundy
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Citation Caveat: Many of the opinions cited in this blog are not yet final or are unpublished. Therefore you should not cite or rely on any judicial decision referenced in The Forecite Blog™ without independently verifying the opinion's status as citable precedent. The rules of the applicable jurisdiction should be consulted before citing to an unpublished opinion or relying on it as precedent.

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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Federal Due Process: Reviewing Court Must Pay “Careful Attention” To The Instructional Language

A reviewing court must analyze how a reasonable juror might have interpreted the instruction and pay "careful attention to the words actually spoken to the jury," Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 514 (1979) (citation omitted); see also Francis v. Franklin, 471 U.S. 307, 322 (1985) ("Language that merely contradicts and does not explain a constitutionally infirm instruction will not suffice to absolve the infirmity.").

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