How to use Jury Instructions?
How to use the Jury Instruction?
Creating jury instructions is a complex process that involves selecting instructions that are standard for every case and instructions that are related to the charges.
The first step in creating a jury instruction is to run the Jury Instruction wizard. This wizard automatically selects all generic instructions and the instructions related to the charge, listing them according to the order set in the Instruction Code table.
This wizard can be accessed from the Jury Instruction Tab
The default behavior is for the Generic Instructions to be listed without being related to a charge.
Once the changes are in place, users can click the Save button, and the instructions will be saved to the case.
The available fields on the Jury Instruction Wizard:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Order | This is the order of the instruction for the selected case. Defining the order of the instructions is a function of the order set for each instruction and the count number for the charge |
| Instruction | This is the code of the instruction |
| Description | The description of the instructions |
| Count | The count number of the charge associated with that instruction. Usually, generic instructions are not associated with a charge, and this field is blank. Generic Instructions can also be configured to be added for each charge in a case |
| Sec Stat No | The secondary statute number of the count |
| Charge Description | The description of the charge |
| sort order | This is the sort order defined for each instruction in the code table. This field is used in combination with the count number to determine the order for each instruction inside a case |
| Variable (arrow) | Indicates if the instructions have variables |
If all Jury instruction sort orders are set to 0, it will bring the order by the INSTRUCTION field, and it will automatically set the order field with an interval of 5
Adding and Editing Instructions
The wizard can only be used when there are no instructions in a case. If the case already has instructions, then the only action is to add new Jury Instructions.
After the wizard loads the instructions for a case, users can add more instructions or edit current instructions by using the Add and Edit button at the top of the screen
Adding and Editing Jury Instruction Variables
If the Instruction has a variable, there will be a Variable section in the Detail section on the right side of the screen.
To add the value to the variable, select the pencil icon next to the variable.
Merging Jury Instructions
Two variables can be used to merge Jury Instructions: Instruction Merge and Instruction Merge Selected.
The difference between them is that the first variable merges all instructions into a single document while the second displays a list of the instructions and allows selecting which instructions should be merged.
Initially, all instructions must be merged, and the first variable does just that. However, if there are additional instructions or changes to an existing instruction, the Selected variables will merge just the modified instructions instead of printing the whole set again.
Please keep in mind that this process merges hundreds of documents and then combines them into a single document, so some instructions could take a few minutes to be created.
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