PATTERN JURY INSTRUCTIONS – FIFTH CIRCUIT – 2001
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UNITED STATE COURT OF APPEALS
FIFTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

PATTERN JURY INSTRUCTIONS
(CRIMINAL CASES)

PATTERN JURY INSTRUCTIONS – FIFTH CIRCUIT – 2001

As part of the role of the Fifth Circuit District Judges Association, a committee of district judges of this circuit has continued to review and revise the Fifth Circuit District Judges Association Pattern Jury Instructions (Criminal Cases), 1997 edition. Time brings new statutes, new interpretations of old statutes, and new directions of prosecutions. The Committee's research and drafting are intended to be current through Spring 2001.

When the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey, 120 S.Ct. 2348 (2000), years of "settled" law were discarded. In each circuit including our own, what had previously been sentencing factors became elements of the offense when they had the capacity to increase a defendant's maximum possible punishment. A major focus of our effort in this edition has been to alert the judge to those circumstances when an instruction needs an Apprendi element.

We have continued to decline the temptation to define "willfully" with one single definition adequate to all instructions. The Committee has attempted to define the mental state required by each particular statute.

While these pattern charges do not presume to be a legal treatise, the Committee has obviously attempted to make accurate statements of the law. These pattern charges should be used for what they are--an aid to guide your instructing the jury on each individual case.

The Committee was able to enlist the services of Susan R. Klein, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Texas in Austin. Her efforts have been very beneficial to our task. We acknowledge the special efforts of many of our clerks and office staff whose work has been significant during the years of our work, including Stacy Bruton, J. Scott Hacker, Mark A. J. Fassold, and Amy Livsey. Alice Simons, legal secretary to Judge Head, has spent many hours proofreading and coordinating our work with West Group.

Our predecessors' work is the foundation of our effort. Those district judges--Dan M. Russell, Jr. (S.D.Miss.), Jack M. Gordon (E.D.La.), Anthony A. Alaimo (S.D.Ga.), Wm. Terrell Hodges (M.D.Fla.), James Hughes Hancock (N.D.Ala.), Tom Stagg (W.D.La.), and William S. Sessions (W.D.Tex.)--deserve our continued thanks.

Hayden W. Head, Jr., Chairman
Southern District of Texas

1990, 1997, 2001 Editions