7.Jury Instruction on Evidence and Emotional Reactions
10 linesMS. SPRAGUE: Commonwealth calls Dr. Barbara-
THE COURT: Hold on here. Counsel, hold on. We're gonna take a short break. All right? So why don't we... This will be a very short break. Come out, we'll come right back, okay?
BAILIFF: Court, all rise. Jurors, close your notebooks. Please come to your chairs, please. This way.
BAILIFF: Jurors have exited the courtroom. Court's in session.
THE COURT: All right. We'll get a short recess in the courtroom.
BAILIFF: Everybody, clear the court.
BAILIFF: Court, all rise. Jurors enter.
BAILIFF: This court's now in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, for the purpose of the record, we return back to the trial of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. All parties are present, including the defendant, and including the 18 jurors.
THE COURT: All right. Well, members of the jury, I just kinda wanna revisit an instruction that I've given you a couple times, I think, during the course of this trial. It's important to understand and remember that sometimes there's evidence that's presented in the trial that creates an emotional reaction. And, but as jurors who have taken an 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 that the evidence produces. Your verdict in this case is gonna have to be based solely on the evidence, and it is not gonna be... It sh- cannot be based on sympathy or anger or passion or prejudice. All right. So you've gotta keep that in mind. And so with this, we're gonna go to the next witness. Okay.