Hernandez v. Contra Costa County

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedMarch 3, 2022
Docket3:20-cv-01183
StatusUnknown

This text of Hernandez v. Contra Costa County (Hernandez v. Contra Costa County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hernandez v. Contra Costa County, (N.D. Cal. 2022).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 RICARDO HERNANDEZ, Case No. 20-cv-01183-AGT g Plaintiff, COURT’S PROPOSED FINAL JURY 9 v. INSTRUCTIONS — ANNOTATED 10 BRANDON HODGES, 11 Defendant.

E 13 The Court’s proposed final jury instructions are set forth below. Except as otherwise 14 || indicated, the parties have stipulated to the instructions (see Dkt. 151). The Court intends to give 3 15 || these instructions subject to modifications based on evidence and developments at trial. The 16 || parties should be prepared to discuss any objections at the final pretrial conference on March 4, 5 17 2022.

18 IT IS SO ORDERED. 19 Dated: March 3, 2022 20 21 AL “TSE 22 United States Magistrate Judge 23 24 25 26 27 28

1 FINAL JURY INSTRUCTIONS 2 (GIVEN AT THE END OF THE CASE) 3 4 5 6 INSTRUCTION NO. _____ [1.4] 7 DUTY OF JURY TO FIND FACTS AND FOLLOW LAW 8 Members of the Jury: Now that you have heard all of the evidence [and the arguments of 9 the attorneys], it is my duty to instruct you on the law that applies to this case. A copy of these 10 instructions will be available in the jury room for you to consult during your deliberations. 11 It is your duty to weigh and to evaluate all the evidence received in the case and, in that 12 process, to decide the facts. It is also your duty to apply the law as I give it to you to the facts as 13 you find them, whether you agree with the law or not. You must decide the case solely on the 14 evidence and the law. Do not allow personal likes or dislikes, sympathy, prejudice, bias, or public 15 opinion to influence you. You should also not be influenced by any person’s race, color, religion, 16 national ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, profession, occupation, economic 17 circumstances, or position in life or in the community. You will recall that you took an oath 18 promising to do so at the beginning of the case. 19 You must follow all these instructions and not single out some and ignore others; they are all 20 important. Please do not read into these instructions or into anything I may have said or done any 21 suggestion as to what verdict you should return – that is a matter entirely up to you. 22 23 Court Notes: 9th Cir. Model Civil Jury Instruction No. 1.4 (modified by the Court). The 24 parties should be prepared to discuss when this instruction should be read (i.e., before or after 25 closing arguments).

26 27 1 INSTRUCTION NO. ____ [3.1] 2 DUTY TO DELIBERATE 3 When you begin your deliberations, elect one member of the jury as your foreperson who 4 will preside over the deliberations and speak for you here in court. 5 You will then discuss the case with your fellow jurors to reach agreement if you can do so. 6 Your verdict must be unanimous. 7 Each of you must decide the case for yourself, but you should do so only after you have 8 considered all of the evidence, discussed it fully with the other jurors, and listened to the views of 9 your fellow jurors. Do not be afraid to change your opinion if the discussion persuades you that 10 you should. But do not come to a decision simply because other jurors think it is right. 11 It is important that you attempt to reach a unanimous verdict but, of course, only if each of 12 you can do so after having made your own conscientious decision. Do not change an honest belief 13 about the weight and effect of the evidence simply to reach a verdict. 14 Perform these duties fairly and impartially. Do not allow personal likes or dislikes, 15 sympathy, prejudice, fear, public opinion or biases to influence you. You should also not be 16 influenced by any person’s race, color, religion, national ancestry, gender identity, sexual 17 orientation, profession, occupation, economic circumstances, or position in life or in the 18 community. 19 It is your duty as jurors to consult with one another and to deliberate with one another with 20 a view towards reaching an agreement if you can do so. During your deliberations, you should not 21 hesitate to reexamine your own views and change your opinion if you become persuaded that it is 22 wrong. 23 24 Court Notes: 9th Cir. Model Civil Jury Instruction No. 3.1 (modified by the Court).

25 26 27 1 INSTRUCTION NO. ____ [3.2] 2 CONSIDERATION OF THE EVIDENCE – CONDUCT OF THE JURY 3 Because you must base your verdict only on the evidence received in the case and on these 4 instructions, I remind you that you must not be exposed to any other information about the case or 5 to the issues it involves. Except for discussing the case with your fellow jurors during 6 deliberations: 7 Do not communicate with anyone in any way and do not let anyone else 8 communicate with you in any way about the merits of the case or anything to do with 9 it. This includes discussing the case in person, in writing, by phone or electronic 10 means, via email, text messaging, or any Internet social media site, blog, website, or 11 other application. This applies to communicating with your family members, your 12 employer, your friends, the media or press, and the people involved in the trial. If 13 you are asked or approached in any way about your jury service or anything about 14 this case, you must respond that you have been ordered not to discuss the matter and 15 to report the contact to the Court. 16 Do not read, watch, or listen to any news or media accounts or commentary about 17 the case or anything to do with it; do not do any research, such as consulting 18 dictionaries, searching the Internet, or using other reference materials; and do not 19 make any investigation or in any other way try to learn about the case on your own. 20 Do not do any research about this case, the law, or the people involved—including 21 the parties, the witnesses, or the lawyers—until you have been excused as jurors. If 22 you happen to read or hear anything touching on this case in the media, turn away 23 and report it to me as soon as possible. 24 These rules protect each party’s right to have this case decided only on evidence that has 25 been presented here in court. Witnesses here in court take an oath to tell the truth, and the 26 accuracy of their testimony is tested through the trial process. If you do any research or 27 investigation outside the courtroom, or gain any information through improper communications, 1 not been tested by the trial process. Each of the parties is entitled to a fair trial by an impartial 2 jury, and if you decide the case based on information not presented in court, you will have denied 3 the parties a fair trial. Remember, you have taken an oath to follow the rules, and it is very 4 important that you follow these rules. 5 A juror who violates these restrictions jeopardizes the fairness of these proceedings, and a 6 mistrial could result that would require the entire trial process to start over. If any juror is exposed 7 to any outside information, please notify the court immediately. 8 9 Court Notes: 9th Cir. Model Civil Jury Instruction No. 3.2 (modified by the Court).

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 1 INSTRUCTION NO. ____ [3.3] 2 COMMUNICATION WITH THE COURT 3 If it becomes necessary during your deliberations to communicate with me, you may send 4 a note through the Courtroom Deputy, Stephen Ybarra, signed by your foreperson. No member of 5 the jury should ever attempt to communicate with me except by a signed writing. I will not 6 communicate with any member of the jury on anything concerning the case except in writing or 7 here in open court. If you send out a question, I will consult with the lawyers before answering it, 8 which may take some time. You may continue your deliberations while waiting for the answer to 9 any question. Remember that you are not to tell anyone – including me or Mr.

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