{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-22-22-831","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 22, § 22-831","heading":"Order of trial proceedings","body":"The jury having been impaneled and sworn, the trial must proceed\n\nin the following order:\n\n1. If the indictment or information is for a felony, the clerk\n\nor district attorney must read it, and state the plea of the\n\ndefendant to the jury. In other cases this formality may be\n\ndispensed with.\n\n2. The district attorney, or other counsel for the state, must\n\nopen the case and offer the evidence in support of the indictment or\n\ninformation.\n\n3. The defendant or defendant’s counsel shall give an opening\n\nstatement immediately after the opening statement of the district\n\nattorney unless the defendant affirmatively reserves the opening\n\nstatement until the district attorney has rested the state’s case.\n\nThe defense may offer evidence after the close of the state’s case.\n\n4. The parties may then, respectively, offer rebutting\n\ntestimony only, unless the court for good reason, in furtherance of\n\njustice, or to correct an evident oversight, permit them to offer\n\nevidence upon their original case.\n\n5. When the evidence is concluded, the attorneys for the\n\nprosecution may submit to the court written instructions. If the\n\nquestions of law involved in the instructions are to be argued, the\n\ncourt shall direct the jury to withdraw during the argument, and\n\nafter the argument, must settle the instructions, and may give or\n\nrefuse any instructions asked, or may modify the same as he deems\n\nthe law to be. Instructions refused shall be marked in writing by\n\nthe judge, if modified, modification shall be shown in the\n\ninstruction. When the instructions are thus settled, the jury, if\n\nsent out, shall be recalled and the court shall thereupon read the\n\ninstructions to the jury.\n\n6. Thereupon, unless the case is submitted to the jury without\n\nargument, the counsel for the state shall commence, and the\n\ndefendant or his counsel shall follow, then the counsel for the\n\nstate shall conclude the argument to the jury. During the argument\n\nthe attorneys shall be permitted to read and comment upon the\n\ninstructions as applied to the evidence given, but shall not argue\n\nto the jury the correctness or incorrectness of the propositions of\n\nlaw therein contained. The court may permit one or more counsel to\n\naddress the jury on the same side, and may arrange the order in\n\nwhich they shall speak, but shall not without the consent of the\n\nattorneys limit the time of their arguments. When the arguments are\n\nconcluded, if the court be of the opinion that the jury might be\n\nmisled by the arguments of counsel, he may to prevent the same\n\nfurther instruct the jury. All instructions given shall be in\n\nwriting unless waived by both parties, and shall be filed and become\n\na part of the record in the case.","path":["OK Code","Title 22"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os22.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"d9b503094183864e335b9a3a6e2d90993db886e8ff08996aedbb1d07d80f53a9","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-22-22-817","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-22-22-832"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}