Blog maintenance takes up a certain amount of time and is generally not visible to most readers.  Most technical things are pretty static now.  Every now and then I try something new - like I have a post with a gif I made on my iPhone ready to be posted, except I'm not sure it it's working right and it appears I'll have to actually post it to find out.  I also had a lot of issues trying to post from my new iPad while in Argentina this summer.  It didn't get along with Blogger at all.  I thought about post for others with similar problems - tricks I learned to make it better, but my basic advice is don't even try if you can help it.  It's a pain.

Then there are updates to old posts.  I can't do this all the time and I really hope that people look at the dates of posts they read online and realize something six years old might be out of date.  But some things seem worth updating.  Here are a couple of recent updates.


Juries  - The LATimes had an article today about a US supreme court case challenging Louisiana's former majority rule for juries.  (The voters overturned that in favor of unanimous decisions in 2018, but the case was 2016.)  I updated a 2017 post on whether hung juries reflect the US cultural divide, which mentioned that Louisiana and Oregon both had majority rule juries.  So I've updated that post.

Hong Kong - I also added a link to an article by a Chinese Human Rights worker to my recent post on Hong Kong.    I also got messages from one former Hong Kong student and one former Beijing student saying my post on Hong Kong was generally accurate, but they didn't want me to quote them.

And then there is following up on comments by readers.  Often there really isn't anything for me to add.  Do the commenters want me to acknowledge their comments?  Or do they look at my follow up comments as my trying to have the last word on something?  If I don't have more to add, I just leave it, especially if I'm particularly busy.

But some comments are particularly welcome because they add information I didn't know about.
For example, a comment by Dennis on my post the other day about whether the airport couldn't get the runway finished faster, gave details about how the grooves in runways have to be 3mm wide and spaced about 25mm apart.  But then he was vague about how long it would take - "a long time."  My comment asked for specifics of 'a long time.'  

And I realize now, as I'm writing this, that I probably should have put a link in that post to one I did last year about the widening and repairing the north-south runway.  So I'll do that now.

Kott Trial Day 14 - Jury Instructions

During lunch the clerk's office lobby is open, but the office is closed. So I could use the computers, but not print out anything. So I just snapped pictures of the computer screen. The quality could be better, but you can see all the jury instructions. Page 1 is the cover and by itself. The rest are listed below. pp.2-3 are together, pp. 3-4, etc. The instructions for the specific charges are on p. 17 (Extortion), p. 19 (Bribery), p. 20 (Wire Fraud). I've left the pictures fairly large so you can double click on the pictures to read them easier. Starting with pages 12=13 I started fixing the brightness and contrast so they are even easier, though I wouldn't want to read this every day.

Table of Contents
Jury Instruction No 1 Duty of Juries to Find Facts and Follow Law p. 2
Jury Instruction No 2 Charge Against Defendant Not Evidence - Presumption of Innocence - Burden of Proof ...p. 3
Jury Instruction No 3 Defendant's Decision to Testify ...p. 4
Jury Instruction No 4 Reasonable Doubt Defined ...p. 5
Jury Instruction No 5 What is Evidence...p. 6
Jury Instruction No 6 What is not Evidence...p. 7
Jury Instruction No 7 Direct and Circumstantial Evidence ...p. 8
Jury Instruction No 8 Credibility of Witness...p. 9
Jury Instruction No 9 Evidence and Other Acts of the Defendant or Acts and Statements of Others...p. 10
Jury Instruction No 10 Separate Consideration of Multiple Accounts - Single Defendant..p. 11
Jury Instruction No 11 Statements by Defendant ...p. 12
Jury Instruction No 12 Impeachment Evidence - Witness ...p. 13
Jury Instruction No 13 Impeachment Evidence - Witness...p. 14 [No 12 is for Allen, 13 for Smith]
Jury Instruction No 14 Conspiracy - Elements ...p. 15
Jury Instruction No 15 Hobbes Act - Extortion Under Color of Official Right.. p. 17
Jury Instruction N0 16 Bribery of a State Official Relating to a Program Receiving Federal Funds..p. 19
Jury Instruction No 17 Wire Fraud-Scheme to Defraud- Deprivation of Right to Honest Services...p .20
Jury Instruction No 18 Duty to Deliberate ...p. 21
Jury Instruction No 19 Consideration of Evidence ...p. 22
Jury Instruction No 20 Use of Notes ...p. 23
Jury Instruction No 21 Jury Consideration of Punishment p. 24
Jury Instruction No 22 Verdict Forms...p. 25
Jury Instruction No 23 Communication with Court...p. 26

Cover Page, p. 1

Jury Instruction No 1 Duty of Juries to Find Facts and Follow Law p. 2

Jury Instruction No 2 Charge Against Defendant Not Evidence - Presumption of Innocence - Burden of Proof ...p. 3

Jury Instruction No 3 Defendant's Decision to Testify ...p. 4
Jury Instruction No 4 Reasonable Doubt Defined ...p. 5

Jury Instruction No 5 What is Evidence...p. 6

Jury Instruction No 6 What is not Evidence...p. 7


Jury Instruction No 7 Direct and Circumstantial Evidence ...p. 8
Jury Instruction No 8 Credibility of Witness...p. 9


Jury Instruction No 9 Evidence and Other Acts of the Defendant or Acts and Statements of Others...p. 10
Jury Instruction No 10 Separate Consideration of Multiple Accounts - Single Defendant..p. 11


Jury Instruction No 11 Statements by Defendant ...p. 12
Jury Instruction No 12 Impeachment Evidence - Witness ...p. 13


Jury Instruction No 13 Impeachment Evidence - Witness...p. 14 [No 12 is for Allen, 13 for Smith]
Jury Instruction No 14 Conspiracy - Elements ...p. 15


Jury Instruction No 14 continued ...p. 16
Jury Instruction No 15 Hobbes Act - Extortion Under Color of Official Right.. p. 17


Jury Instruction 15 continued ...p. 18
Jury Instruction N0 16 Bribery of a State Official Relating to a Program Receiving Federal Funds..p. 19


Jury Instruction No 17 Wire Fraud-Scheme to Defraud- Deprivation of Right to Honest Services...p .20
Jury Instruction No 18 Duty to Deliberate ...p. 21


Jury Instruction No 19 Consideration of Evidence ...p. 22
Jury Instruction No 20 Use of Notes ...p. 23


Jury Instruction No 21 Jury Consideration of Punishment p. 24
Jury Instruction No 22 Verdict Forms...p. 25


Jury Instruction No 23 Communication with Court...p. 26