People of Michigan v. Raymond Charles Pierson

Boonstra, J. (concurring in part and dissenting in part).

Throughout any juror's courtroom experience, a trial judge makes innumerable rulings on the admissibility of evidence. Sometimes those rulings are made in the presence of the jury; sometimes they are made outside the presence of the jury. But either way, they are rulings that are necessary to the conduct of a trial, and jurors are properly made to understand that. Both at the outset of a trial and at its conclusion, juries are therefore generally instructed regarding what constitutes evidence, the judge's role in determining…