Trial Practice
Presentation
Demonstrative aids help a jury understand evidence but are not themselves evidence of the facts depicted. Courts vary on whether they go to the jury room, and many exclude them from deliberations.
Foundation requires that the aid fairly represent the underlying evidence.
Alternative Names:
Demonstrative Exhibit, Illustrative Aid
Why it Matters?
The distinction from substantive evidence determines whether the aid reaches the jury room, and parties frequently invest heavily in demonstratives the jury will see once during testimony and never again. Where a summary is genuinely evidence under Rule 1006, it is admissible and goes back. Structuring key visual material as a Rule 1006 summary rather than a demonstrative is worth considering for that reason.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Do demonstratives go to the jury room?
What is the alternative?
