Opinion
2:21-cv-58-DPM
02-15-2024
DANNY LEE HOOPER ADC #107609 PLAINTIFF v. ROOSEVELT BARDEN, Captain Shift Supervisor, EARU DEFENDANT
ORDER
D.P. Marshall Jr. United States District Judge
The Court thanks both sides for their helpful pretrial filings. Trial will begin in Helena on Wednesday, 28 February 2024. The Court will hold a pretrial conference at 9:00 a.m. in chambers. We'll begin the voir dire at 9:30 a.m. We'll pick the jury, do preliminary instructions, open, and start the proof on Wednesday.
Jury Instructions. The Court is attaching its working drafts of (1) the voir dire; (2) the preliminary instructions; (3) the final instructions; and (4) the verdict forms. The Court started with the parties' agreed instructions and statement of the case and then revised as needed. Please file any suggestions for the voir dire and any objections to the instructions and verdict forms by 21 February 2024.
Voir Dire. The Court will conduct most of the questioning, with follow-up by each side-fifteen minutes at most. Please focus your questioning. Voir dire is not a time to explain the burden of proof, to summarize the case, to seek commitments, or to pump the potential jurors full of fairness. Instead, please ask lean questions about potential jurors' experiences and views to ferret out bias. If the parties would prefer to have the Court ask certain questions, please submit them to chambers for consideration by 21 February 2024.
Openings and Closings. Fifteen minutes a side for openings. Twenty minutes a side for closing.
Objections. Avoid speaking objections during the trial. A word or two will do. If the Court needs to hear more, then the Court will call counsel forward for a bench conference.
Exhibits. The parties must submit their final lists of potential witnesses and exhibits by Wednesday, 21 February 2024, as prescribed in the Scheduling Order, Doc. 68 at 2. A binder with courtesy copies of exhibits should be submitted to Jonesboro chambers, too. Please use the Court's forms for both exhibit and witness lists. If the parties plan to use electronic exhibits, they should have paper copies available as a fall-back.
So Ordered.