1.Supplemental Jury Instructions on Reasonable Doubt
43 linesBAILIFF: All rise.
BAILIFF: This court is now in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Good morning, Your Honor. May I proceed?
THE COURT: Yes, please.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, before the court, we have the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. Ms. Clancy is present. She is represented by attorney Kevin Reddington. The Commonwealth is represented by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, and Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham.
THE COURT: Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning, counsel.
MR. REDDINGTON: Good morning.
THE COURT: Good morning, Ms. Clancy.
MS. CLANCY: Good morning, Your Honor.
THE COURT: All right, so we ready to bring the jury in?
MS. SPRAGUE: Yes.
THE COURT: Okay.
BAILIFF: Court, all rise. Jurors entering.
BAILIFF: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. All persons having anything to do before the Honorable William Sullivan, Justice of the Superior Court, now sitting in Plymouth within employ of the Commonwealth, draw near, give your attendance, and you shall be heard. God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This court is now in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Good morning, Your Honor. May I proceed?
THE COURT: Yes, please.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, present before the court, we have 12 deliberating jurors and six alternates are present in the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. Ms. Clancy is present. She is represented by attorney Kevin Reddington, and the Commonwealth is represented by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, and Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham.
THE COURT: Thank you, Madam Clerk.
THE COURT: Hi. Good morning, everyone.
JURORS: Good morning.
THE COURT: All right. I'm just gonna ask you those questions and ask you to return to your deliberations. So first question, as you all know, has any member of the jury read, seen, heard, or heard, or overheard anything from any source that would affect your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?
JURORS: No.
THE COURT: All right. Lastly, is there any other serious matter of concern bearing on your service as a juror in this case that would—that anybody needs to bring to my attention? All right.
JURORS: No.
THE COURT: So with that, again, thank you as always for following those instructions. I'm gonna ask you to resume your deliberations. Thank you.
BAILIFF: Court, all rise.
BAILIFF: Jurors have exited the courtroom.
THE COURT: All right. Counsel, anything we need to address at this time?
MS. SPRAGUE: No.
THE COURT: All right. So we'll be in recess on this matter. Thank you.
BAILIFF: All rise.
BAILIFF: This court is back in session. Please be seated.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, for the purpose of the record, we return to the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. All parties are present, excluding the jury.
THE COURT: All right. Counsel, could I see you sidebar to talk about this?
BAILIFF: Court, all rise. Jurors entering.
BAILIFF: Court is now in session. Be seated.
COURT CLERK: Your Honor, for the purpose of the record, present people of the court are 12 deliberating jurors and six alternates in the matter of Commonwealth versus Lindsay Clancy. All other parties are present.
THE COURT: All right. Thank you, Madam Clerk.
COURT CLERK: You're welcome.
THE COURT: Good afternoon, everyone. I just wanted to go over a couple of things this afternoon. First off, I wanna remind you that you are required to follow my instructions on the law as I gave them to you. All right? I also want to, at this point, go over the instruction that I gave you about reasonable doubt. All right? And so, reasonable doubt, the burden is on the Commonwealth to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the charges made against her. What is proof beyond a reasonable doubt? Well, the term is often used and probably pretty well understood, though it's not easily defined. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond all possible doubt, for everything in the lives of human beings is open to some possible or imaginary doubt. A charge is proved beyond a reasonable doubt if, after you've compared and considered all of the evidence, you have in your minds an abiding conviction to a moral certainty that the charge is true.
When we refer to moral certainty, we mean the highest degree of certainty possible in matters relating to human affairs, based solely on the evidence that has been put before you in this case. I've told you that every person is presumed to be innocent until they are proved guilty, and that the burden of proof is on the prosecutor. If you evaluate all the evidence and you still have a reasonable doubt remaining, the defendant is entitled to the benefit of that doubt and must be acquitted. It's not enough for the Commonwealth to establish a probability, even a strong probability, that the defendant is more likely to be guilty than not guilty. That is not enough. Instead, the evidence must convince you of the defendant's guilt to a reasonable and moral certainty, a certainty that convinces your understanding and satisfies your reason and judgment as jurors who are sworn to act conscientiously on the evidence. This is what we mean by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. All right. And with that, I'm going to ask you to resume your deliberations.
BAILIFF: Court, all rise please. Jurors, this way.
THE COURT: All right.
BAILIFF: Jurors have exited the courtroom. This court's in session. Please be seated.