CPL 270.40 · Article 270. Jury Trial--formation and Conduct of Jury
Trial jury; preliminary instructions by court
Text — Law content up to date as of October 2, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 270.40 Trial jury; preliminary instructions by court.
After the jury has been sworn and before the people's opening address, the court must instruct the jury generally concerning its basic functions, duties and conduct. Such instructions must include, among other matters, admonitions that the jurors may not converse among themselves or with anyone else upon any subject connected with the trial; that they may not read or listen to any accounts or discussions of the case reported by newspapers or other news media; that they may not visit or view the premises or place where the offense or offenses charged were allegedly committed or any other premises or place involved in the case; that prior to discharge, they may not request, accept, agree to accept, or discuss with any person receiving or accepting, any payment or benefit in consideration for supplying any information concerning the trial; and that they must promptly report to the court any incident within their knowledge involving an attempt by any person improperly to influence any member of the jury.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 2, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/CPL270.40
- Text hash
- sha256 892a6069baab1c443e2ce796782a9405ca3c0478d468f01749572f9a40281b2c
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
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.