The Importance of Jury Instructions in Criminal Trials

Welcome back to the Law School Toolbox podcast! The topic of today's "Listen and Learn" episode is Criminal Procedure. Specifically, we're talking about a few topics related to the prosecution of a criminal trial: burden of proof, presumptions, and sufficiency of the evidence.

In this episode we discuss:

• The burden of proof in a criminal case
• A review of the substantive law defining murder
• Rebuttable and irrebuttable presumptions in jury instructions
• How do we know whether the prosecution has met its burden?
• When can the defendant move for a judgment of acquittal?
• Analyzing two hypos from previous California bar exams

Resources:

• “Listen and Learn” series (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/law-school-toolbox-podcast-substantive-law-topics/#listen-learn)
• California Bar Examination – Essay Questions and Selected Answers, February 2008 (https://nwculaw.edu/pdf/bar/February%202008%20Essays%20and%20Sample%20Answers.pdf)
• California Bar Examination – Essay Questions and Selected Answers, July 2010 (https://juraxbar.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/July-2010-CBX.pdf)
• Podcast Episode 248: Listen and Learn – Introduction to Homicide (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-248-listen-and-learn-introduction-to-homicide/)
• Podcast Episode 295: Listen and Learn – Due Process and Equal Protection (Con Law) (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/podcast-episode-295-listen-and-learn-due-process-and-equal-protection-con-law/)

Download the Transcript  (https://lawschooltoolbox.com/episode-357-listen-and-learn-prosecution-of-a-criminal-trial/)

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Thanks for listening!

Alison & Lee