Jury Instructions for the Modern Age not do any research, such as consulting dictionaries, searching the Internet or using other reference materials, and do not make any investigation about the case on your own.”69 But in 2005 the Seventh Circuit’s Committee on Pattern Civil Jury Instructions added a reference to the Internet to its “during trial” jury instruction regarding “what is evidence.” The amended provision reads, Second, anything that you may have seen or heard outside the courtroom is not evidence and must be entirely disregarded. [This includes any press, radio, Internet or television reports you may have seen or heard. Such reports are not evidence and your verdict must not be influenced in any way by such publicity.]70
The admonition for recesses reminds jurors to avoid “news reports,” without further specification.71 But the trial instruction on news coverage has been amended to have the court note that “reports about this trial [or about this incident] are appearing in the newspapers and [or] on radio and television [and the internet],” and to explain that this information may not be reliable because “[t]he reporters may not have heard all the testimony as you have, may be getting information from people whom you will not see here under oath and subject to cross examination, may emphasize an unimportant point, or may simply be wrong.”72
Criminal Instructions The criminal instructions have not been similarly updated. They still provide that “anything that you may have seen or heard outside the courtroom is not evidence and must be entirely disregarded. [This includes any press, radio, or television reports you may have seen or heard.]”73
Eighth Circuit – Civil: Modern; Criminal: Archaic Civil Instructions The Eighth Circuit updated its juror conduct instructions for civil trials in 2009 to add Internet research to its list of prohibited juror conduct,74 and rewrote the provisions in 2011 to include social media and to give jurors an explicit rationale for the prohibitions. Thus, the instructions prior to voir dire now provide: Members of the Jury Panel, if you have a cell phone, PDA, Blackberry, smart phone, I-phone and any other wireless communication device with you, please take it out now and turn it off. Do not turn it to vibration or silent; power it down. [During jury selection, you must leave it off.] (Pause for thirty seconds to allow them to comply, then tell them the following:) If you are selected as a juror, (briefly advise jurors of your court’s rules concerning cellphones, cameras and any recording devices). I understand you may want to tell your family, close friends, and other people about your participation in this trial so that you can explain when you are required to be in court, and you should warn them not to ask you about this case, tell you anything they know or think they know about it, or discuss this case in your presence. You must not post any information on a social network, or communicate with anyone, about the parties, witnesses, participants, [claims]
69. Fed. Civ. Jury Instr., 7th Cir. (2010), App. at 184 (Appendix) (sample preliminary instructions). 70. Fed. Crim. Jury Instr., 7th Cir. 1.06 (2005), available at http://www.ca7.uscourts. gov/7thcivinstruc2005.pdf. 71. Fed. Civ. Jury Instr., 7th Cir. 2.01 (2010). 72. Fed. Civ. Jury Instr., 7th Cir. 2.02 (2010). 73. Fed. Crim. Jury Instr., 7th Cir. 1.06 (1998), available at http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/pjury.pdf. 74. See e.g., 8th Cir. Model Civil Jury Instr. 1.05 (2009), available at http://www.juryinstructions.ca8.uscourts.gov/civ_manual_2011.pdf.
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Volume 1, Issue 3