WPIC 4.51 View of Site
11 WAPRAC WPIC 4.51Washington Practice Series TMWashington Pattern Jury Instructions--Criminal
11 Wash. Prac., Pattern Jury Instr. Crim. WPIC 4.51 (5th Ed)
Washington Practice Series TM
Washington Pattern Jury Instructions--Criminal
January 2024 Update
Part I. General Instructions
WPIC CHAPTER 4.50. View of Site
WPIC 4.51 View of Site
You have been permitted to view a site involved in this case for the sole purpose of helping you understand the evidence presented to you in this courtroom. What you actually saw at the site or its surrounding area is not evidence. The physical features at the site may or may not have changed. The conditions that prevailed at the time of the occurrence or other relevant times may or may not have changed. You are to rely solely on the testimony of witnesses and on the exhibits in order to decide issues involving the physical characteristics or appearance of the site at the time of the events in question.
NOTE ON USE
If the jury has viewed a site, this instruction should be given with the court's written instructions, if either the prosecutor or the defense requests it. For the oral instruction to be used before viewing a site, see WPIC 4.71 (View—Before Visiting Site).
COMMENT
The judge may allow the jury to view a site where “any material fact occurred.” CrR 6.9, CrRLJ 6.9; see also State v. Land, 121 Wn.2d 494, 501–02, 851 P.2d 678 (1993) (discussing prior cases and holding that a judge may properly reject a requested jury view when the site's relevant characteristics have been “amply demonstrated” by the evidence admitted at trial).
The law that is the basis for WPIC 4.51 is covered in detail in Tegland, 5 Washington Practice: Evidence Law and Practice, sections 402.44 and 402.45 (6th ed.).
[Current as of May 2019.]
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