650 Accepted Jury Charges for Texas Criminal Cases
Spot more issues advance more persuasive arguments, and reduce your research and drafting time with these widely-adopted criminal jury charges.
The indispensable book of jury charges relied on by judges and attorneys throughout the state.
Now more than 40 years old, and recently revised and updated by new authors Judge Elizabeth Berry and Judge George Gallagher, Texas Criminal Jury Charges provides the most comprehensive and authoritative set of criminal jury charges available in Texas.
650 pre-drafted instructions, detailed legal discussions with 1,100 supporting citations, and dozens of practice tips are contained in this essential and affordable resource. Use it to:
- Plan winning pretrial strategies
- Spot and set-up issues
- Identify evidence requirements
- Negotiate favorable plea bargains
- Win important instructional battles
- Deliver better results for your clients
Whether you consult it (1) at the outset of a case to determine substantive law and identify issues, (2) during a case to formulate pretrial strategy and negotiate a plea, or (3) before trial to argue or prepare instructions, Texas Criminal Jury Charges is indispensable.
The book’s jury charges cover the full range of crimes, from manslaughter to capital murder, from assault to aggravated sexual assault, from criminal mischief to aggravated robbery, from handling waste without permits to unauthorized discharge of pollutant, and hundreds more.
Heavily Annotated
Texas Criminal Jury Charges is more than a book of jury charges. It delves deeply into the substantive law, devoting nearly as many pages to interpretive and supporting law as to instructions.
Before each set of charges you will find an analysis of the underlying law, complete with exceptions, caveats, and practice tips. This detailed exposition of the law includes quotations from the governing statutes, citation-heavy summaries of common law, critical discussions of wayward decisions, and definitions.
Then, after each set of charges, come supportive decisions, interpretive or opposing cases, tactical suggestions, and use notes.
The Accepted Authority
Since it was first published in 1964, Texas Criminal Jury Charges has been the primary source of criminal instructions in Texas. Judges and attorneys throughout the state rely on its jury forms and law, and regularly compliment the book:
- “The most comprehensive jury charges.”
- “I use it all the time.”
- “Excellent.”
- “I’ve used it since 1965.”
- “It’s the only one of its kind.”
REVISION 18 HIGHLIGHTS
Here is your annual update to the indispensable book of jury charges relied on by judges and attorneys throughout the state. This year’s update includes a record 87 new sections! Here are some of the sections that have been added or updated:
Chapter 2: Criminal Responsibility – Parties to Crime
- NEW: Failure to Object §2:80
Chapter 3: Defenses and Special Evidentiary Charges
- Voluntary Conduct Charge, §3:110
- Connection of Accused to Criminal Act — Test, §3:240
- Circumstantial Evidence, §3:510
- General Law – Deadly Weapon, §3:640
- Notice of Intent to Seek Deadly Weapon Finding, §3:690
- Entrapment, §3:860
- Illegally Seized Evidence, §3:980
- Limitations on Self-Defense, §3:1730
- Retreat — Presumption of Reasonableness (Post-2007), §3:1745
Chapter 6: Offenses Against Person
- NEW: Indecency With Child — Sexual Contact §6:871
- NEW: Improper Relationship Between Educator and Student, §§6:901-6:903
- NEW: Unlawful Disclosure or Promotion of Intimate Visual Material, §6:936
- NEW: Sexual Coercion §§6:938, 6:939
- NEW: Assault — Causing Bodily Injury to Another, §6:990
- NEW: Aggravated Sexual Assault, §6:1390
- NEW: Injury to a Child, Elderly Individual, or Disabled Individual, §6:1432
- NEW: Terroristic Threat, §6:1525
- NEW: Harassment by Persons in Correctional Facilities, §6:1610, §6:1611
Chapter 9: Offenses Against Public Administration
- NEW: Misrepresentation of Property, §9:535
- NEW: Prohibited Substances and Items in Correctional or Civil Commitment Facility, §9:785
- NEW: Prohibited Substances and Items in Correctional or Civil Commitment Facility, §9:795
- NEW: Violation of the Civil Rights of Person in Custody, §9:1251
- NEW: Improper Sexual Activity with Person in Custody, §9:1263
- NEW: Improper Sexual Activity with Person in Custody, §9:1287
- NEW: Failure to Comply with Immigration Detainer Request, §9:1375
Chapter 11: Offenses Against Public Order and Decency
- NEW: Harassment, §10:123
- NEW: Abuse of Corpse, §10:168
- NEW: Cruelty to Nonlivestock Animals, §10:245
- NEW: Prostitution, §10:391A
- NEW: Promotion of Prostitution, §10:408
- NEW: Employment Harmful to Children, §10:633
ABBREVIATED TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO JURY INSTRUCTION LAW
CHAPTER 2 CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY — PARTIES TO CRIME
CHAPTER 3 DEFENSES AND SPECIAL EVIDENTIARY CHARGES
CHAPTER 4 PUNISHMENT
CHAPTER 5 CRIMINAL INSTRUMENTS
CHAPTER 6 OFFENSES AGAINST THE PERSON
CHAPTER 7 OFFENSES AGAINST THE FAMILY
CHAPTER 8 OFFENSES AGAINST PROPERTY
CHAPTER 9 OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
CHAPTER 10 OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC ORDER AND DECENCY
CHAPTER 11 OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY, AND MORALS
CHAPTER 12 ORGANIZED CRIME
CHAPTER 13 CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES OFFENSES
CHAPTER 14 WATER CODE CRIMES
CHAPTER 15 TAX CRIMES
CHAPTER 16 HUMAN RESOURCES FRAUD
CHAPTER 17 REAL PROPERTY OFFENSES
CHAPTER 18 ELECTION CODE
CHAPTER 19 SECURITIES FRAUD
CHAPTER 20 MISCELLANEOUS
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Elizabeth Berry served two terms as the elected Judge of Criminal District Court Number Three from January 1, 2003-December 31, 2010. She presided over a court handling felony criminal cases. Prior to that, she had more than eight years’ experience as an Assistant Criminal District Attorney in Tarrant County, as well as over three years in private practice as a criminal defense attorney. After working as a visiting judge for over four years, she is currently practicing as a criminal defense attorney in Fort Worth, Texas.
Judge Berry graduated from the University of Texas, and attended law school at the University of Houston. She has served as a faculty advisor and speaker at trial skills courses around the state. Judge Berry has been Board Certified in Criminal Law since 1999.
Judge George Gallagher has been the presiding judge of the 396th District Court since January 1, 2000. A graduate of Texas A&M University and St. Mary’s LAW School, upon graduation Judge Gallagher served as an Assistant District Attorney in Tarrant County for four years. He was a partner in the Fort Worth criminal defense firm of Zachry, Hill, Beatty, Butcher & Gallagher for fourteen years.
Judge Gallagher has been Board Certified in Criminal LAW since 1987. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Tarrant County Bar Association, Master of the Eldon B. Mahon Inns of Court, former President of the Tarrant County Criminal Defense LAWyers Association, and was the Presiding Judge of the Criminal District Courts and the Statutory County Courts Trying Criminal Cases in Tarrant County in 2005.
