Rule 22 - Jury Instructions(a) Procedural Instructions. At the commencement of and during the course of a trial, the court may orally give the jury cautionary and other instructions of law relating to trial procedure and the duty and function of the jury, and may acquaint the jury generally with the nature of the case. Every oral instruction shall be recorded by the court reporter as it is delivered to the jury. All other instructions shall be in writing.(b) Substantive Instructions.(1) By the Parties. At least twenty-four (24) hours before trial, or at such other time during the trial as the court directs, each party must file with the clerk and deliver to all counsel jury instructions on the forms of verdict and the substantive law of the case. Except for good cause shown, the court shall not entertain a request for instructions which have not been pre-filed. At the conclusion of testimony, each party may present to the judge up to six (6) pre-filed substantive instructions. The court, for good cause shown, may allow more than six (6) instructions to be presented.(2) By the Court. The court's instructions, if any, must be in writing and must be submitted to the parties who, in accordance with section (d), must make their specific objections on the record. The court shall not comment upon the evidence.(c) Identification.(1) Caption. All instructions shall be captioned at the top of the page "Jury Instruction No. ___" in order to allow the court to number the instructions given in such sequence as it deems proper.(2) Identifying Submitted Instructions. All instructions submitted shall be identified with letters and numerals placed in the bottom right corner of each page. The court's written instructions shall be numbered and prefixed with the letter C. The State's instructions shall be numbered and prefixed with the letter S. A defendant's instructions shall be numbered and prefixed with the letter D. In actions with multiple defendants, Roman numerals shall be used to identify the proposed instructions of each defendant; the Roman numerals shall be placed after the alphabetical designation D, and shall conform to the sequential listing of defendants as stated in the indictment. Instructions shall not otherwise be identified with a party.(d) Objections. A party who objects to any portion of the instructions or to a failure to give a requested instruction must inform the court, on the record, of the specific objection and the grounds therefor before the instructions are presented to the jury. An opportunity must be given to object out of the jury's hearing.(e) Rulings on Instructions. Prior to closing argument, the court shall rule on the requested instructions, marking each "given" or "refused," and all such instructions shall become part of the record.(f) When Read. Instructions shall be read by the court to the jury before closing arguments. Instructions will not be given after closing arguments have begun, except when justice so requires. All given instructions shall be available to the parties for use during closing arguments, and will be carried into the jury room when the jury retires to consider its verdict.Comment
Rule 22(a) - (c) largely follows the practice established by former Rule 3.07 of the Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court and Rule 51 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure.
Section (d) reflects Mississippi practice and tracks Rule 30(d) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Section (f) requires the court to instruct the jury before closing arguments in order to give the parties an opportunity to argue to the jury in light of the exact language used by the court. Section (f) does permit the court, when justice so requires, to instruct the jury both before and after closing arguments, which assures that the court retains power to remedy omissions in pre-argument instructions or to add instructions necessitated by the arguments. In this regard, section (f) gives the court more latitude than former Rule 3.07 of the Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court, which permitted post-argument instructions only to correct "extreme" cases of injustice.