M Civ JI 97.33 Witnesses-Credibility

(1) As I said before, it is your job to decide what the facts of this case are. You must decide which witnesses you believe and how important you think their testimony is. You do not have to accept or reject everything a witness said. You are free to believe all, none, or part of any person’s testimony.

(2) In deciding which testimony you believe, you should rely on your own common sense and everyday experience. However, in deciding whether you believe a witness’s testimony, you must set aside any bias or prejudice you may have regarding a witness’s disability, gender or gender identity, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, socioeconomic status or any other factor irrelevant to the rights of the parties.

Each of us may have biases about or certain perceptions or stereotypes of other people. We may be aware of some of our biases, though we may not share them with others. We may not be fully aware of some of our other biases. Our biases often affect how we act, favorably or unfavorably, toward someone. Bias can affect our thoughts, how we remember, what we see and hear, whom we believe or disbelieve, and how we make important decisions. Witnesses can have the same implicit biases. As jurors you are being asked to make very important decisions in this case. You must not let bias, prejudice, or public opinion influence your decision. You must not be biased in favor of or against any party, witness, or lawyer because of his or her disability, gender or gender identity, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, socioeconomic status or any other factor irrelevant to the rights of the parties. Your verdict must be based solely on the evidence presented. You must carefully evaluate the evidence and resist any urge to reach a verdict that is influenced by bias for or against any party, witness, or lawyer.

(3) There is no fixed set of rules for judging whether you believe a witness, but it may help you to think about these questions:

(a) Was the witness able to see or hear clearly? How long was the witness watching or listening? Was anything else going on that might have distracted the witness?

(b) Did the witness seem to have a good memory?

(c) How did the witness look and act while testifying? Did the witness seem to be making an honest effort to tell the truth, or did the witness seem to evade the questions or argue with the lawyers?

(d) Does the witness’s age or maturity affect how you judge his or her testimony?

(e) Does the witness have any bias or prejudice or any personal interest in how this case is decided?

(f) Have there been any promises, threats, suggestions, or other influences that affected how the witness testified?

(g) In general, does the witness have any special reason to tell the truth, or any special reason to lie?

(h) All in all, how reasonable does the witness’s testimony seem when you think about all the other evidence in the case?

(4) Sometimes the testimony of different witnesses will not agree, and you must decide which testimony you accept. You should think about whether the disagreement involves something important or not, and whether you think someone is lying or is simply mistaken. People see and hear things differently, and witnesses may testify honestly but simply be wrong about what they thought they saw or remembered. It is also a good idea to think about which testimony agrees best with the other evidence in the case.

(5) However, you may conclude that a witness deliberately lied about something that is important to how you decide the case. If so, you may choose not to accept anything that witness said. On the other hand, if you think the witness lied about some things but told the truth about others, you may simply accept the part you think is true and ignore the rest.

Comment

The November 2021 amendment added gender identity to the list of things that should not influence the jury’s decision.

History

M Civ JI 97.33 was added March 2005. Amended October 2019. Amended November 2021.