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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 563 Filed 12/18/21 Page 147 of 167

1 Instruction No. 45: Credibility of Witnesses – Impeachment by Prior Inconsistent
2 Statement

3 You have heard evidence that a witness made a statement on an earlier occasion which
4 counsel argues is inconsistent with the witness’s trial testimony. Evidence of a prior inconsistent
5 statement is not to be considered by you as affirmative evidence bearing on Ms. Maxwell’s guilt.
6 Evidence of the prior inconsistent statement was placed before you for the more limited purpose
7 of helping you decide whether to believe the trial testimony of the witness who contradicted him
8 or herself. If you find that the witness made an earlier statement that conflicts with his or her
9 trial testimony, you may consider that fact in deciding how much of the trial testimony, if any, to
10 believe.

11 In making this determination, you may consider whether the witness purposely made a
12 false statement or whether it was an innocent mistake; whether the inconsistency concerns an
13 important fact or whether it had to do with a small detail; whether the witness had an explanation
14 for the inconsistency; and whether that explanation appealed to your common sense.

15 It is exclusively your duty, based on all of the evidence and your own good judgment, to
16 determine whether the prior statement was inconsistent, and if so how much, if any, weight to be
17 given to the inconsistent statement in determining whether to believe all or part of the witness’s
18 testimony.

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