Day 159 was consumed by jury instruction hearings, where Judge Ito ruled on competing proposals from the defense and prosecution. The court declined most defense special instructions, generally relying on standard CALJIC instructions while modifying or crafting instructions on physical-evidence statistics and burden of proof. Both sides were prepared to rest their cases, and the prosecution sought to restrict the defense from referencing Fuhrman's Fifth Amendment invocation or unadmitted McKinny tape content during closing argument. Jury instructions were scheduled to begin the following morning.

• Both sides prepared to rest cases after confirming DNA expert Gary Sims would not be recalled
• Court rejected most Defense special instructions on DNA statistics, chain of custody, and police credibility
• Court clarified that random match probability statistics are not equivalent to likelihood-of-guilt statistics
• Prosecution moved to restrict defense from referencing Fuhrman's Fifth Amendment invocation or unadmitted McKinny tape content during closing arguments
• Court ruled on dozens of exhibit objections in pre-jury administrative session
• Jury instructions scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM the following morning