How do we evaluate jury instructions in a civil trial?
The following excerpt is from Carroll v. Thurman, 951 F.2d 359 (9th Cir. 1991):
We evaluate jury instructions "in the context of the overall charge to the jury as a component of the entire trial process." Bashor v. Risley, 730 F.2d 1228, 1239 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 838 (1984). The petitioner in a habeas proceeding has the burden of demonstrating that the instruction "so infected the entire trial that the resulting conviction violates due process." Darnell v. Swinney, 823 F.2d 299, 301 (9th Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1059 (1988).
The state court gave the following instruction to the jury regarding the number of possible verdicts it could reach:
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