Criminal Jury Instructions for the District of Columbia
II. Final Instructions Scope
C. Evaluation of Other Evidence

Instruction 2.302 FAILURE TO COOPERATE DURING IDENTIFICATION PROCEDURE

You have heard evidence that there was a court order that [name of defendant] [appear in a lineup] [speak certain words while standing in a lineup so that witnesses could hear him/her] [furnish a specimen of his/her handwriting for identification purposes] [try on an article of clothing allegedly [found at the scene of the crime] [used in the commission of the crime]] and that [name of defendant] may have refused to obey that order. It is up to you to decide if s/he refused to obey the court’s order. If you find that s/he did so, you may consider his/her refusal as tending to show his/her feelings of guilt, which you may, in turn, consider as tending to show actual guilt. On the other hand, you may also consider that s/he may have refused for reasons [unrelated to this case or] fully consistent with innocence in this case.

If you find that [name of defendant] refused [a court order [identify order if necessary]] [a request by law enforcement], you should give the evidence as much weight as in your judgment it deserves.

 

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