The 89 pages of jury instructions in the RICO Crips trial had lawyers comparing it to parts of the Bible in today’s closing arguments.
“We have jury instructions longer than the Psalms, except there is no poetry in them,” defense lawyer Paul McCausland said of the jury instructions given Friday by U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten.
That was just one of several biblical references by defense lawyers trying to explain complicated charges stemming from RICO, the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act.
Lengthy legal instructions frequently lose jurors with complex vocabulary, grammar and legal rhetoric, experts say.
“Bad jury instructions aren’t just ignored, they can also actively confuse jurors,” said Anne Reed, a trial lawyer and jury consultant from Milwaukee, in a discussion on Twitter.
While she hadn’t seen the packet for this trial, I asked Reed her definition of “bad” jury instructions.
“Frankly most instructions qualify,” she answered.
Dennis C. Elias, a social psychologist who runs a Phoenix jury consulting firm and blogs about juror issues, agreed that jurors don’t always understand complicated instructions.
“Jurors don’t share vocab, context, logic path, or meaning with authors of instructions,” Elias tweeted. “Confusion reigns as result.”
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[...] verdict form they have to fill out covers more than 30 criminal counts. Jurors were told in lengthy legal instructions that they have to consider each count separately. That includes the complex Racketeer Influenced [...]
[...] said the lengthy legal instructions kept them from reaching their verdict for days, but that they carefully considered the charges. (He [...]