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Chapter 1

Chapter 1

General Matters

1.16  Instruction—Witness Testimony for Multilingual Jurors

You are about to hear testimony of a witness who will be testifying in [language used]. This witness will testify through a court-appointed interpreter. Although some of you may know [language used], it is important that all jurors consider the same evidence. Therefore, you must accept the English translation of the witness’s testimony. You must disregard any different meaning. Although you must defer to the interpreter’s translation, it is up to you to judge the believability of the witness and what weight to give his or her testimony, just as you would for any evidence in the case.