Card #49: Initial jury instructions · burden, expert opinions, and possible verdicts
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Before closings, the judge instructed that the Commonwealth bears the criminal-responsibility burden and explained the jury’s role in weighing experts and considering the charged and lesser offenses.
[VERIFIED FACT] Judge Sullivan instructed that Clancy has no burden to prove lack of criminal responsibility; the Commonwealth must prove criminal responsibility under Massachusetts law, including that she appreciated the wrongfulness of her conduct. Jurors may give expert opinions the weight they believe those opinions deserve. [VERIFIED FACT] The initial instructions described first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter options and the mental-disease-or-defect framework. [UNKNOWN] These were the first instructions; the remaining general instructions were expected after closing arguments and had not been completed at the noon cutoff.
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Topic: Prosecution Case. Comments: 0.