THE COURTS
Title 234--RULES
OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
[234 PA. CODE CH. 1]
Order Amending Rule 114; No. 348 Criminal Procedural Rules; Doc. No. 2
[36 Pa.B. 4172]
[Saturday, August 5, 2006]
Order Per Curiam:
Now, this 20th day of July, 2006, upon the recommendation of the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee; the proposal having been submitted without publication pursuant to Pa.R.J.A. 103(a)(3) in the interests of efficient administration because the amendment is perfunctory in nature, and a Final Report to be published with this Order:
It Is Ordered pursuant to Article V, Section 10 of the Constitution of Pennsylvania that Rule of Criminal Procedure 114 is amended in the following form.
This Order shall be processed in accordance with Pa.R.J.A. 103(b), and shall be effective September 1, 2006.
Annex A
TITLE 234. RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
CHAPTER 1. SCOPE OF RULES, CONSTRUCTION AND DEFINITIONS, LOCAL RULES
PART A. Business of the Courts Rule 114. Orders and Court Notices: Filing; Service; and Docket Entries.
* * * * * (C) Docket Entries
* * * * * (2) The docket entries shall contain:
* * * * * (c) the date [and manner] of service of the order or court notice.
* * * * *
Comment This rule was amended in 2004 to provide in one rule the procedures for the filing and service of all orders and court notices, and for making docket entries of the date of receipt, date appearing on the order or notice, and the date [and manner] of service. This rule incorporates the provisions of former Rule 113 (Notice of Court Proceedings Requiring Defendant's Presence). But see Rules 511, 540(F)(2), and 542(D) for the procedures for service of notice of a preliminary hearing, which are different from the procedures in this rule.
* * * * * Official Note: Formerly Rule 9024, adopted October 21, 1983, effective January 1, 1984; amended March 22, 1993, effective as to cases in which the determination of guilt occurs on or after January 1, 1994; renumbered Rule 9025 and Comment revised June 2, 1994, effective September 1, 1994; renumbered Rule 114 and Comment revised March 1, 2000, effective April 1, 2001; amended March 3, 2004, effective July 1, 2004; amended August 23, 2004, effective August 1, 2005; amended July 20, 2006, effective September 1, 2006.
Committee Explanatory Reports:
* * * * * Final Report explaining the March 1, 2000 reorganization and renumbering of the rules published with the Court's Order at 30 Pa.B. [1477] 1478 (March 18, 2000).
* * * * * Final Report explaining the July 20, 2006 deletion of ''manner of service'' from paragraph (C)(2)(c) published with the Court's Order at 36 Pa.B. 4173 (August 5, 2006).
FINAL REPORT1
Proposed Amendments of Pa.R.Crim.P. 114
Docket Entries When Court Order or Notice Served On July 20, 2005, effective September 1, 2006, upon the recommendation of the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee, the Court amended Pa.R.Crim.P. 114 (Orders and Court Notices: Filing; Service; and Docket Entries) by deleting as no longer necessary the requirement in paragraph (C)(2)(c) that a docket entry be made of the manner of service.
Rule 114 was reorganized and amended when the motions rules package was adopted by the Court in 2004. As part of the process, paragraph (C) (Docket Entries), which retains without any changes the requirement that a docket entry be made of the date of service and the manner of service, paragraph (C)(2)(c), was added to require, inter alia, docket entries be made promptly.
When the requirement that a docket entry be made of the date of service and the manner of service originally was added to Rule 114 (in then-Rule 9024) in 1983, then-Rule 9024 also required that service of the order be by mail or personal delivery only. With the 2004 changes to Rule 114, there now are seven methods of service in writing, as well as service orally in open court on the record. See paragraph (B)(3)(a).2 By providing in Rule 114 the additional methods of service for court documents and orders, the 2004 rule change has created an unintended burden on the court officials who have to make the docket entries. As explained to the Committee, frequently court notices will be prepared and mailed in batches of, for example, 100 notices. When the docket entries for these notices are to be made, the users of the Common Pleas Criminal Court Case Management System (CPCMS) expected to make one entry and CPCMS would be able to automatically make the same entry for all 100 notices. CPCMS does have the capability to do this for the date of service if all 100 notices would be mailed on the same day. However, because by rule, the manner of service is different depending on whether the party is an assistant district attorney, a public defender, private counsel, or a defendant, instead of going in and making one docket entry that CPCMS will automatically enter for all 100 notices, the court official must manually enter the manner of service for all 100 notices. In view of this unintended and burdensome consequence of the service requirements in Rule 114(B)(3), the Committee was asked to consider deleting ''manner of service'' from the required docket entries in Rule 114(C)(3)(c).
The Committee, after discussing whether there is a benefit to having on the court docket the manner of service of court documents and what the ramifications to the criminal justice system would be if the provision was deleted from Rule 114, concluded that this information does not have to be included on the docket as long as the date of service is noted on the docket.3 Accordingly the ''manner of service'' has been deleted from Rule 114(C)(2)(c) as no longer necessary.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 06-1485. Filed for public inspection August 4, 2006, 9:00 a.m.] _______
1 The Committee's Final Reports should not be confused with the official Committee Comments to the rules. Also note that the Supreme Court does not adopt the Committee's Comments or the contents of the Committee's explanatory Final Reports.
2 The methods of service in writing are by (1) personal delivery to the party's attorney or, if unrepresented, the party; (2) personal delivery to the party's attorney's employee at the attorney's office; (3) mailing a copy to the party's attorney or leaving a copy for the attorney at the attorney's office; (4) in those judicial districts that maintain in the courthouse assigned boxes for counsel to receive service, when counsel has agreed to receive service by this method, leaving a copy for the party's attorney in the box in the courthouse assigned to the attorney for service; (5) sending a copy to an unrepresented party by certified, registered, or first class mail addressed to the party's place of residence, business, or confinement; (6) sending a copy by facsimile transmission or other electronic means if the party's attorney, or the party if unrepresented, has filed a written request for this method of service or has included a facsimile number or an electronic address on a prior legal paper filed in the case; or (7) delivery to the party's attorney, or the party if unrepresented, by carrier service.
3 In addition, Rule 113(A) requires that the criminal case file contain, inter alia, copies of all court notices.
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