(1) Before or at the close of the evidence. At the close of the evidence or at any earlier reasonable time that the court orders, a party may file and furnish to every other party written requests for the jury instructions it wants the court to give.
(2) After the close of the evidence. After the close of the evidence, a party may:
(A) File requests for instructions on issues that could not reasonably have been anticipated by an earlier time that the court set for requests; and
(B) with the court's permission, file untimely requests for instructions on any issue.
(b) Instructions. The court:
(1) Must inform the parties of its proposed instructions and proposed action on the requests before instructing the jury and before final jury arguments;
(2) must give the parties an opportunity to object on the record and out of the jury's hearing before the instructions and arguments are delivered;
(3) must instruct the jury at the close of evidence, before argument; and
(4) may instruct the jury at any time before the jury is discharged.
(1) How to make. A party who objects to an instruction or the failure to give an instruction must do so on the record, stating distinctly the matter objected to and the grounds for the objection.
(2) When to make. An objection is timely if:
(A) A party objects at the opportunity provided under subsection (b)(2); or
(B) a party was not informed of an instruction or action on a request before that opportunity to object, and the party objects promptly after learning that the instruction or request will be, or has been, given or refused.
(d) Assigning error; clearly erroneous.
(1) Assigning error. A party may assign as error:
(A) An error in an instruction actually given, if that party properly objected; or
(B) a failure to give an instruction, if that party properly requested it and, unless the court rejected the request in a definitive ruling on the record, also properly objected.
(2) Clearly erroneous instruction. A court may consider an error in the instructions that has not been preserved as required by subsection (d)(1) if the giving or failure to give an instruction is clearly erroneous and the error affects substantial rights.
L. 1963, ch. 303, 60-251; L. 2010, ch. 135, § 122; July 1.
Subsection (a) gives parties two windows to request jury instructions: before or at the close of the evidence (or at any earlier time the court sets), and after the close of evidence for issues that couldn't reasonably have been anticipated earlier, or for any issue at all if the court allows an untimely request.
Subsection (b) puts the burden on the court to keep the process transparent. Before instructing the jury and before final arguments, the court must tell the parties what instructions it plans to give and how it will rule on their requests, then give them a chance to object on the record, outside the jury's hearing. The court must instruct the jury at the close of evidence, before argument, but it may also give instructions at any later point before the jury is discharged.
Objections have their own rules under subsection (c): a party has to state, on the record, exactly what's being objected to and why. An objection counts as timely if it's made at the opportunity subsection (b)(2) provides, or, if the party wasn't told about the instruction or ruling before that point, as soon as the party learns of it. Subsection (d) then governs what a party can raise on appeal: an error in a given instruction only if the party objected to it, and a failure to give a requested instruction only if the party asked for it and (absent a definitive on-the-record rejection) also objected. Even without that preservation, a court may still consider an instructional error if it's clearly erroneous and affects a substantial right.