Opinion ID: 2108204
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Standard Relevant to the Jury Instruction

Text: When giving a jury instruction, [a] trial justice fulfills his or her obligation to charge the jury properly by framing the issues in such a way that the instructions reasonably set forth all of the propositions of law that relate to material issues of fact which the evidence tends to support. Morinville v. Old Colony Co-operative Newport National Bank, 522 A.2d 1218, 1222 (R.I.1987) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Riley v. Stone, 900 A.2d 1087, 1092 (R.I.2006). It is well settled that this Court examines jury instructions in their entirety to ascertain the manner in which a jury of ordinarily intelligent lay people would have understood them. Parrella v. Bowling, 796 A.2d 1091, 1101 (R.I.2002) (internal quotation marks omitted). We do not examine single sentences or selective parts of the charge in isolation; rather, the challenged portions must be examined in the context in which they were rendered. Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Moreover, even if an instruction is erroneous, reversal is warranted only if it can be shown that the jury could have been misled to the resultant prejudice of the complaining party. Hodges v. Brannon, 707 A.2d 1225, 1228 (R.I.1998); Anter v. Ambeault, 104 R.I. 496, 501, 245 A.2d 137, 139 (1968).