1.Jury Impartiality Check, Oath, Charges, and Preliminary Instructions

THE COURT: And the defendant was charged by the way of an indictment on three counts. All right. Now, you have to understand that an indictment is not itself any evidence of the defendant's guilt whatsoever. It's merely the formal way of accusing a person of a crime in order to bring her here to this courtroom for trial. You are not to draw any inference of guilt from the indictments or from the fact that she was indicted and formally charged. Now, in every criminal case, the defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until she's proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The law requires the Commonwealth, that is the prosecution, to prove that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The law does not require the defendant to prove her innocence or to produce any evidence.

At the end of this trial, you must find the defendant not guilty unless the Commonwealth has proved to you beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant has committed each or any of the offenses with which she's charged. Now, I'll more formally instruct you on what reasonable doubt is later, but a charge is proved beyond a reasonable doubt if, after you've compared and considered all the evidence, you have in your minds an abiding conviction to a moral certainty that the charge is true. It's gonna be your duty, the duty of the jury, to determine whether the Commonwealth has proved its case against the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, and that decision has to be based only on the evidence and the law that's presented here in the courtroom during the trial of this case. Now, the defendant has been charged in three counts of murder. There are two different degrees of murder. There's murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree.

If you find the defendant guilty of murder, you shall decide the degree of murder. The Commonwealth alleges that the defendant committed murder in the first degree on the following theories: murder with deliberate premeditation and/or murder with extreme atrocity or cruelty. Now, to prove the defendant guilty of any crime, the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was criminally responsible at the time the alleged crime was committed. The Commonwealth bears the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the crime with which she's charged, and also that the defendant is criminally responsible for her conduct. The defendant has no burden to prove a lack of criminal responsibility. Criminal responsibility is a legal term. A person is not criminally responsible for her conduct if she has a mental disease or defect and, as a result of that mental disease or defect, lacks the substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality or the wrongfulness of her conduct or to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.

THE COURT: Now, just so you'll know, at the end of this trial, I will go over all of those legal principles in much greater detail. All right? So I just kinda wanted to give you a little bit of kind of an outline of what the law is on these charges. Now, I wanna go over how the trial is gonna proceed. And so the... As soon as I'm done giving you this kind of pre-charge, the attorneys for the Commonwealth and the defendant will have an opportunity to present their opening statements. The Commonwealth goes first. The assistant district attorney will make her opening for the Commonwealth. And after that, the defense may choose to make an opening statement at that time. They could defer to give it later in the trial, or they could just not give an opening at all, 'cause remember, the burden of proof is not on the defendant. All right? After the opening statements... Oh, one thing I did wanna tell you, the opening statements are very important, but they are not evidence. All right?

They're really—we used to call it when I was a lawyer—kinda just roadmaps. So you can kinda see where the case is going, so you can kinda see what each party's position is. All right? But they're not evidence, and it's important for you to keep that in mind. After the opening statements, the Commonwealth will then have their opportunity to introduce evidence in support of the charges. After that, the defendant may present evidence in her behalf if she wishes to, but she's not obligated to do so at all. Remember, the government, the Commonwealth, has the burden of proof, and the defendant doesn't have to produce any evidence whatsoever. Now, there also in this case may be some rebuttal evidence. So, you may... And we'll go over that, kind of the—how that works in regards to the case when we get to that point. All right? Now, what is the evidence? Well, the evidence is generally from testimony. This is where the witnesses will testify from generally here. There may be some documents.

There may be some videos. There may be some audios. And in addition to the evidence, we're gonna take what we call a view. And a view, and I'll go over that again also a little bit later, but a view is we're just gonna go to a number of spots and sites that may be relevant in this case. We're gonna do that probably sometime, either later this week or sometime next week, and I'll keep you advised as to that so you can kinda check the weather and kinda how we're gonna go. So that would be generally the evidence.

THE COURT: After the evidence is done, we'll go into what they call the closing arguments of the attorneys. Again, very important, but not evidence. All right? And then after the closing arguments, I get to come talk to you again, and at that point, I give what they call the judge's charge or just the instructions. And really what it means, I'm just gonna explain to you what the law is, and you're gonna have to take the facts that you find during the course of this trial and apply the law that I give to you to arrive at the verdict. All right? And I'll explain what the law is in much, believe me, much more detail at the end of this trial, okay? Now, I just kinda wanted to go over everybody's kinda function in this trial as we go forward. My function is pretty simple. All right? My function is to see that the case is tried in a way that's orderly, fair, and efficient.

It's also my function to decide on questions of law that might come up during the trial and, as I said, to instruct you what the law is that you have to apply, and it's your duty as jurors to accept the law as I state it to you. All right. Well, what's your function? Well, your function is to determine the facts in this case. You are the sole and exclusive judges of the facts. You alone will determine what evidence to believe, how important any evidence is that you do believe, and what conclusions all the believable evidence leads you to. You are gonna have to consider and weigh the testimony of each and all the witnesses who will appear before you, and you alone will determine whether to believe any witness and what extent to which you do believe that witness. It's gonna be your responsibility to resolve any conflicts in testimony that might arise during the course of the trial, and it's your duty to determine where the truth lies. That's your function.

Now, you should—I wanna comment—I'm gonna sometimes be making rulings on objections and evidence issues. I'm gonna be talking to the attorneys and talking sometimes to witnesses. Don't try to read into what I'm doing. But in other words, I have no object- I have no opinion as to what your verdict should be. All right? So if you think you are, you're trying to read between the lines, don't. All right? I have no opinion. Now, also during the course of the trial, you may hear either the, like, the three lawyers objecting. All right? Don't hold that against the attorneys. That's their job. All right? And generally, the objections go towards the admissibility of some of the evidence or the questioning. It might be a different form that's needed.

THE COURT: And that's what they're supposed to do. So don't hold it against either side if they're making objections. And what'll happen is sometimes I'll just rule right from here where I'm sitting. It may be an objection if I say, “Well, that's sustained,” that means I agree with the objection. And a lot of times the question is just asked a different way. If I say “overruled,” just means I disagree with the objection, and the question can go forward or the answer can be given. All right? So that's just kinda the shorthand we use. There's gonna be times during the course of a trial that I have to talk to counsel over at sidebar. When I say sidebar at this point, that's gonna be over here. All right? This, in this courtroom, this is the sidebar. And so a lot of times I'll have to talk to counsel over here because the law requires me sometimes to make decisions outside of your hearing. All right? So we do that over here. It can be annoying, I know that.

But we do it over here because it's actually quicker than if we ask you to leave the courtroom. 'Cause you've now seen, you'd have to stand up, file out one by one, all the way down to the jury room. The court officer then says, “They're all in the jury room.” Then I talk to the lawyers, then we've resolved that. You have to then file all the way back. So we found it's quicker. And so a lot of times those things really move a case along. So I apologize if we're doing them, but that's the reason we do it. And that's the reason why we do it in the courtroom. If we're doing a sidebar conference, anybody needs to stand up, kinda stretch, you have a bad back, you know, like those are pretty comfortable chairs, but maybe sitting there for a while. By all means, do that. But when we're over here at sidebar, don't discuss with any other jurors kinda what's going on or what you think is going on over here. All right? So if you just wanna stretch, you can.

Now, if during the course of this trial anybody needs to communicate with me about anything, just let the court officer know and they'll let me know, and I'll talk to the attorneys who will deal with any of your concerns or any issues. Now, until this case is submitted to you after my final instructions, you must not discuss it with anyone, even your fellow jurors or your family, friends, or employees. All right? So it's important that you keep an open mind and not decide this case in any way until the entire case has been submitted to you. All right?

THE COURT: And that sounds easy at this point 'cause you haven't heard anything. But as the case gets going, it gets harder and harder sometimes, even in the jury room. You can't start deliberating until you hear all the evidence. You can't start talking about it until you hear all the evidence, till you know the law you gotta apply. All right? We're gonna allow you, as the case goes forward, to take notes. All right? And so, anybody who wants to take notes, you can. You don't have to. Some people find it helpful to remember. Some people find it distracting. So that's just your... It's up to you. That's your option. All right. You should know that those notes are your notes. By that I mean, we can't let you take 'em home, but at the end of each day, they're collected, they're put in a secure place. Nobody reads 'em. I don't read 'em. The attorneys don't read 'em. Nobody reads 'em. At the end of the trial, they're destroyed. Okay?

So, but just some people, if you wanna do it, we'll hand those out in a couple of minutes. Now, I wanna just kinda go over just some cautions as we're getting ready to start this trial. All right? First is, as I said already, please keep an open mind. Don't form any judgments or conclusions or views as to any aspect of this case. You haven't heard all the evidence, and you must keep an open mind throughout this case and until the case is given to you in your deliberations. Two, as I said, don't talk about this case, about any aspect of the case, with family, friends, acquaintances, or anybody like that. Three, don't talk to any of the witnesses or parties or attorneys involved in this case. They've been instructed not to talk to you. We really want you to be comfortable. All right? And so if you do pass by one of the people involved in the case, if they go by you and don't say anything to you, don't hold it against them. Don't think they're not being respectful. They're following my instructions. We just want you to be comfortable throughout the course of this trial. Now—

THE COURT: Sometimes during the course of a trial, evidence is presented that produces an emotional reaction. And that might happen in this case. But as jurors who have taken the oath to follow the law, I'm instructing you that the law says you must separate any emotional reaction on your part from the informational value and weight of the evidence. You must find the facts in this case based only on the evidence. All right. I may go into that a little bit later, but I just kinda wanted to remind you of that, in regards to that. Don't do any research on this case. All right? If you have any questions about things as you go forward, don't—you're not to do any independent research. You've got, as I said before, you've got three very, very experienced lawyers. They'll get you the information that you're gonna need to come to the right verdict. All right? You can't do any research. The other thing is don't visit the scene of any place that's described during the course of the testimony.

So no field trips. All right? As I said, we very well may be taking a view or to go see some of these places later on in the trial, but that's the only time you should be there, 'cause at that point you'll be under the supervision of the court officers, the court; the attorneys will be there. So that's the only time you're gonna be allowed to do that. Now, I think the reason for all of these cautions are probably pretty clear, but it's just we need to ensure that a fair and just trial is given to all the parties in this case. So if you follow those instructions, that's—you'll be able to do that. In regards to the schedule, as I told you, what we're generally gonna do is go—start at 9:00. We're gonna go to 11:00. Might be a little bit—might be off kilter a little bit today 'cause of this part of the procedures. Go to 11:00, then we'll go till 1:00. There'll be a break from 1:00 to 2:00, and we'll generally go 2:00 to 3:30 or 4:00. All right. Now, after saying that, as I told you, I think everybody would say, this is a case that we may not be sitting every day. All right? And we may have to break early on certain days. So what I'm gonna try and do as best I can is give you as much notice and explain to you kinda where we are as we go through the case. And then, so that being said, we're not sitting tomorrow. All right? Something's come up that has nothing to do with any of the participants, but we can't sit.