Chapter 6 - § 6.3 • JUROR QUESTIONS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 6.3 • JUROR QUESTIONS

Colorado

➢ General. "Jurors shall be allowed to submit written questions to the court for the court to ask of witnesses during trial, in compliance with procedures established by the trial court. The court shall, out of the hearing of the jury, review each question with counsel or unrepresented litigants and consider any objections they make. The court shall have discretion to prohibit, modify or limit a question for good cause, even if an objection is not made, before posing it to the witness. The court shall have discretion to allow juror follow up questions in writing. The court shall not allow a juror to clarify a question by an oral statement or pose an oral question directly to a witness. The parties shall be permitted to ask additional questions of the witness within the scope of any juror questions posed by the court." C.R.C.P. 47(u). See also CJI-Civ. 1:17 (CLE ed. 2018).

➢ Format of Questions. CJI-Civ. 1:17 (CLE ed. 2018) requires that questions be written and unsigned by jurors and instructs jurors not to attach any significance to the court's declining to ask any question nor to guess what the answer might have been. See Holley v. Huang, 284 P.3d 81, 86 (Colo. App. 2011) (juror question, as framed, was irrelevant, and trial court had no duty to reframe questions).

➢ Standard of Review. Trial court's decision not to ask question was well within the scope of its discretion, where it had no duty to reframe question and appellant failed to explain how she would have benefitted from having the question asked. Holley, 284 P.3d at 86.

Federal

➢ General. FRE 611(a) states that a court "should exercise reasonable control over the mode and order of examining witnesses."

➢ Not Prejudicial Per Se. Allowing juror-inspired questions is not prejudicial per se, but the procedure should be used

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