Mr. Foreman, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury: At this time the lawyers are done with their part of / the case. They have put before you every fact and every exhibit and every witness that they feel will help / their case, whether it was for the plaintiff or whether it was for the defendant. That part of the trial / is over and done with. You now have all of the things that you need to decide the guilt or / innocence of the defendant in this case.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, at this time, I will state the / law of the case to you. After that is done, you will go to the jury room and decide on / your verdict in this case. The facts are for you and you alone to determine. I leave that up to / you. It would be wrong for me to give you any idea of how I feel about any witness or / fact or exhibit in this case. It is not part of my job as the judge. I have not done / so, and I will not do so. If you feel that I have, then it is your job to disregard / any opinion that you think that I have put before you.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there has been / a time or two when I had to rule upon certain points of law that came up during the trial. / One lawyer may ask a question that another lawyer does not like, or one lawyer may have an exhibit that / the other lawyer does not like. When there is a point of law brought before the court, it is my / job to decide whether or not I will allow that question or allow that exhibit. That is the job that / has been given to me. I decide the law in this case.

Your job, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, / is to decide what evidence you believe in this case and what evidence you do not believe. For example, a / witness may testify about a certain fact in the case. If you believe that that witness has given testimony that / is true, then you are to give proper weight to the testimony of that witness. But if you believe that / that witness has given testimony that is not true, then you are not to give weight to the testimony of / that witness.

In this case, as in every case, you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, are the sole / judges of the evidence. The evidence may come from a witness as I have just said, but it may also / be an exhibit. You are to judge an exhibit in the same way. If you believe that an exhibit is / true and that it does show or prove a fact, then you are to give proper weight to that exhibit / in the same way that you give proper weight to a witness that you believe. But if you believe that / that exhibit does not show or prove a fact, then you are not to give weight to that exhibit.

Ladies / and gentlemen of the jury, the defendant in this case has been brought to court by means of what we / call an indictment by a grand jury. In our state a grand jury has the power to give an indictment / to the district attorney when the grand jury is of the opinion that a crime has been committed. In this / case, the grand jury has given an indictment to the district attorney in regard to the defendant. The defendant has / been brought here to answer the charge of the grand jury.

Now, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it is / not right for you to consider the indictment as evidence. The indictment is not evidence in this case. The indictment / is a piece of paper that has the charge against the defendant. It is not proof of any fact in / this case. It is not evidence in this case. You must not take it as proof of any fact.

Ladies / and gentlemen of the jury, the defendant has entered a plea of not guilty in this case. You must consider / him to be not guilty at this time. The state has the burden of proof to prove that the defendant / is guilty of the charge that has been brought against him. Until the state can prove that charge, you must / continue to presume that the defendant is not guilty of the charge.

In this case, ladies and gentlemen of the / jury, the defendant did not take the witness stand. I charge you that the mere fact that the defendant did / not testify cannot be held against the defendant. In this case, as in all cases, it is the state that / must prove the charge against the defendant.

The defendant does not have the burden of proof. It is the State / that has the burden of proof. So, the mere fact that the defendant did not testify is not proof of / his guilt or innocence. It is not proof of anything.

There are two types of evidence that you can use / to decide whether or not you believe the state or the defendant in the case before you. One type of / evidence is known as circumstantial evidence. The other type of evidence is known as direct evidence.

Ladies and gentlemen of / the jury, direct evidence is evidence from a witness. When a witness is on the witness stand and testifies as / to what he or she has heard or done or seen, then that is direct evidence. In this case, we / have had more than one witness brought in by the state and the defendant who have given direct evidence.

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