Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.202 · Division 3. Trials

Statements to the jury panel

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)

Prior to the examination of prospective jurors, the trial judge may, in his or her discretion, permit brief opening statements by counsel to the panel.

Notes and commentary — not rule text

History

Rule 4.202 adopted effective January 1, 2013.

Advisory Committee Comment

This statement is not a substitute for opening statements. Its purpose is to place voir dire questions in context and to generate interest in the case so that prospective jurors will be less inclined to claim marginal hardships.

Source of truth

Edition: As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
Official file: https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/four/rule4_202
Text hash: sha256 e2770adacbc50ed762508197e6111198e57aa92e61363f416d5fc63a54d255ae
Composed by: compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.