Proposed Jury Instruction for Premeditation

Proposed Jury Instruction for Premeditation

NOTICE TO COUNSEL AND JUDGES: As provided in the Court's Order accepting the proposed jury instructions for a period of working review, the Court's provisional approval "is for the purpose of refining and testing the application and accuracy of the pattern instructions and does not ensure error-free trials, and their use does not carry a no-reversal guarantee. It is not intended that this provisional acceptance is a final approval of the content of any instruction and each judge may use or refuse any instruction as he or she sees fit[,]" according to law. (emphasis added).

PREMEDITATION
__________ INSTRUCTION NO. _____
The Court instructs the jury that to premeditate is to think of a matter before it is executed. Premeditation implies something more than deliberation, and may mean the party not only deliberated, but formed in his mind the plan of destruction.

COMMENT
PREMEDITATION

1. State v. Hatfield, 169 W.Va. 191, 286 S.E. 2d 402 (1982), Footnote 6, citing State v. Dodds, 54 W.Va. 289, 297-98, 46 S.E. 228, 231 (1903).