Louisiana Jury Instructions–Civil and Criminal
CHAPTER 2 Criminal Jury Instructions
XXI. Evidence

§ 21.12 Flight of the Defendant

Flight and attempt to avoid apprehension are facts and circumstances which a trier of fact may consider in determining guilt and may infer a guilty conscience. An instruction to a jury in a criminal case where evidence has been presented that the defendant did flee from the scene and attempt to avoid apprehension can be as follows:

Evidence was presented which was offered in an attempt to show that the Defendant did flee and attempt to avoid apprehension for this crime of which he has been charged. Flight and attempt to avoid apprehension are circumstances which you as jurors may infer a guilty conscience. You may consider that the evidence introduced was probative of the defendant’s guilt or that it was not.

 

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