102. Taking Notes During the Trial

102. Taking Notes During the Trial Instruction No 1 Request by Plaintiff Request by Defendant Requested by Given as Proposed Given as Modified Given on Court?s Motion Refused Withdrawn Judge Instruction No 1 You have been given notebooks and may take notes during the trial. Do not take the notebooks out of the courtroom or jury room at any time during the trial. You may take your notes into the jury room during deliberations. You should use your notes only to remind yourself of what happened during the trial. Do not let your note-taking interfere with your ability to listen carefully to all the testimony and to watch the witnesses as they testify. Nor should you allow your impression of a witness or other evidence to be influenced by whether or not other jurors are taking notes. Your independent recollection of the evidence should govern your verdict, and you should not allow yourself to be influenced by the notes of other jurors if those notes differ from what you remember. [The court reporter is making a record of everything that is said. If during deliberations you have a question about what the witness said, you should ask that the court reporter?s records be read to you. You must accept the court reporter?s record as accurate.] At the end of the trial, your notes will be [collected and destroyed/collected and retained by the court but not as a part of the case record/[specify other disposition]]. New September 2003; Revised April 2007, December 2007