Instructions
HTML Version - Best for copy and paste (for instructions only), printing individual instructions, and viewing on mobile devices
PDF Version - Entire set of instructions - printer friendly
Please note that the criminal jury instructions are available in HTML version which can be easily copied and pasted, as well as viewed on a mobile device.
We are pleased to provide an electronic copy of the criminal jury instructions presently in use for criminal trials. On January 1, 2014, by Administrative Order 2013–13, the Michigan Supreme Court created the Committee on Model Criminal Jury Instructions. The committee is composed of attorneys and judges whose duty it is to ensure that the criminal jury instructions accurately inform jurors about the legal process in which they will participate and the law that they are to apply in an understandable, conversational, and unbiased manner. The Committee has authority to amend or repeal existing instructions and to adopt new instructions. Although the instructions do not have the force and effect of a court rule, their use is required by MCR 2.512(D) unless the court determines that an instruction does not accurately reflect the state of the law, or circumstances of the case require a variance or additional instructions.
Committee Members
Hon. Joyce A. Draganchuk (Chair)
Timothy Baughman
Hon. Keith Edward Black
Hon. Kathleen Brickley
Hon. Michael C. Brown
Hon. Stacia J. Buchanan
Hon. Terry L. Clark
Hon. Paul John Cusick
Stephanie E. Farkas
Michael G. Frezza
John Paul Hunt
Reporter
Samuel R. Smith
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Charles F. Justian
Michael J. McCarthy
John R. Minock
Michael L. Mittlestat
Tamara J. Phillips
Melissa A. Powell
Stephen T. Rabaut
Jerome Sabbota
Imran J. Syed
Michael A. Tesner
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The Supreme Court Committee on Model
Criminal Jury Instructions, the successor to the Michigan State Bar Committee
on Criminal Jury Instructions, is charged with providing trial courts with
instructions that are concise, understandable and accurate. The instructions are intended to describe
trial procedures and duties in a manner that makes the legal process
comprehensible to jurors, and to correctly state the law so that the jurors can
apply it to the facts as they determine them to be.
Though the instructions are intended to
be an accurate statement of the law, and their use is required under MCR
2.512(D)(2) if they are appropriate and correctly state the law, the courts are
charged with providing juries with instructions that accurately reflect
Michigan jurisprudence. Where that is
not the case, the court may alter the instructions. Furthermore, changes in the law, whether
through statutory amendments by the Legislature or statutory interpretation by
the courts, may call for variance from the published instructions before the
Committee can devise and publish new instructions, and a trial court may
sometimes need to provide additional instructions or modify current
instructions. The evidence in a
particular case or events that occur during a trial may also provide a reason
to deviate from the standard instructions.
Linguistic changes aimed at making the instructions more understandable
are not discouraged, so long as any changes do not alter an instruction’s
essential meaning.
The Committee is charged with providing
instructions for all criminal offenses.
However, the Model Jury Instructions do not yet include instructions for
every crime. In the event that the
prosecutor or Attorney General has charged an offense for which there is no
instruction, the trial court will be obliged to create instructions. In order to prioritize the Committee’s duty
to formulate instructions for offenses not yet included in the Model Jury
Instructions, the Committee requests that judges or practitioners who try cases
that do not yet have instructions contact the Reporter with those offenses, and
with any proposed instructions for the Committee’s consideration. Proposed instructions awaiting public comment
and recently adopted jury instructions can be found in the right-hand column on
this page.
The
instructions are posted above in three formats.
The PDF format has a clickable table of contents throughout the
document, as well as bookmarks along the left side for easy navigation. There is a Word format with all instructions
and references. There is also a
copy-and-paste format with all of the instructions, but without legal
references or commentary; it is intended for use by the courts when providing
jurors with written copies of the instructions that have been read by the judge.