WPIC 4.72 Exhibit Admitted for Illustrative Purposes

Use this oral instruction when admitting an exhibit for illustrative purposes only.

Select from the bracketed descriptions of the illustrative exhibit as appropriate, or substitute a more applicable description. The instruction will need to be modified for cases in which more than one exhibit is admitted for illustrative purposes.

Use the last bracketed paragraph if the judge thinks it will be helpful.

If the parties later stipulate that the exhibit may go to the jury room, then the judge at that time may explain this circumstance for the jurors.

Exhibits that tend to be admitted for only illustrative purposes include models, informal drawings of a crime scene, diagrams, and charts or outlines summarizing the evidence in a case. A common example is an expert's diagram drawn during the trial. See Tegland, 5 Washington Practice, Evidence Law and Practice § 402.41 (6th ed.).

Illustrative exhibits are “appropriate to aid the trier of fact in understanding other evidence, where the trier of fact is aware of the limits on the accuracy of the evidence.” State v. Lord, 117 Wn.2d 829, 855, 822 P.2d 177 (1992). A chart summarizing evidence may be admitted for illustrative purposes if it represents “a substantially accurate summary of evidence properly admitted. The jury is then free to judge the worth and weight of the evidence summarized in the chart.” State v. Lord, 117 Wn.2d at 855–56, 861.

When admitting an exhibit for illustrative purposes only, the judge needs to instruct the jurors as to the meaning of an illustrative exhibit. Jurors need to be instructed that an illustrative exhibit, unlike other exhibits, is not evidence and will not be available to them in the jury room. State v. Lord, 117 Wn.2d at 856.