THE COURTS
[ 234 PA. CODE CHS. 2 AND 5 ]
In Re: Amendment of Rules of Criminal Procedure 202 and 507; No. 387; Criminal Procedural Rules
[40 Pa.B. 1397]
[Saturday, March 13, 2010]
Order Per Curiam:
And Now, this 26th day of February, 2010, upon the recommendation of the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee; the proposal having been submitted without publication pursuant to Pa.R.J.A. No. 103(a)(3) in the interests of justice and efficient administration 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 the amendment to Rule of Criminal Procedure 507 and the revisions of the Comments to Rules of Criminal Procedure 202 and 507 are approved as follows.
This Order shall be processed in accordance with Pa.R.J.A. No. 103(b), and shall be effective April 1, 2010.
JOHN A. VASKOV,
Deputy Prothonotary
Annex A
TITLE 234. RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
CHAPTER 2. INVESTIGATIONS
PART A. Search Warrant Rule 202. Approval of Search Warrant Applications by Attorney for the Commonwealth—Local Option.
* * * * *
Comment For reasons set forth in the Comment to Rule 507, this rule authorizes the adoption and withdrawal of the prior approval requirement on a local option basis.
Other principles and comments concerning this rule, including the intended meaning of ''attorney for the Commonwealth,'' and the use of advanced communication technology or other electronic methods to convey the approval of the search warrant application, are set forth in the Rule 507 Comment.
Official Note: Rule 2002A adopted December 11, 1981, effective July 1, 1982; amended August 9, 1994, effective January 1, 1995; renumbered Rule 202 and amended March 1, 2000, effective April 1, 2001; Comment revised February 26, 2010, effective April 1, 2010.
Committee Explanatory Reports:
Report explaining the August 9, 1994 amendments published at 22 Pa.B. 6, 18 (January 4, 1992); Final Report published with the Court's Order at 24 Pa.B. 4325, 4342 (August 27, 1994).
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 February 26, 2010 Comment revision regarding electronic approval published with the Court's Order at 40 Pa.B. 1397, 1398, (March 13, 2010).
CHAPTER 5. PRETRIAL PROCEDURES IN COURT CASES
PART B(1). Complaint Procedures Rule 507. Approval of Police Complaints and Arrest Warrant Affidavits by Attorney for the Commonwealth—Local Option.
* * * * * (C) If an attorney for the Commonwealth disapproves a police complaint, arrest warrant affidavit, or both, the attorney shall furnish to the police officer who prepared the complaint, affidavit, or both a written notice of the disapproval, in substantially the following form, and the attorney shall maintain a record of the written notice.
D.A. File Number ______
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
______ COUNTY
NOTICE AND RECORD OF DISAPPROVAL
Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania
Complaint/Affidavit/
Application of:
vs. ______ Charge: ______ ______ Police Number: ______ ______ Police Department: ____ Occurrence Date: _____ Time: ______ Location: ____
SUMMARY OF FACTS AND PROBABLE CAUSE __________
__________
[PCIC] CLEAN/NCIC check reveals no outstanding warrants.
Date: ______ Source of Information: __________
REASON(S) FOR DISAPPROVAL
(Please check appropriate reason)
__ IC= Insufficient Corroboration __ UV= Unavailable or Uncooperative Victim __ IE= Insufficient Evidence __ WC= Witness Credibility/Contradicted __ II= Identification Inconclusive __ ID= Inadequate Description of Persons, Premises, or Property __ IJ= Interest of Justice __ NS= Insufficient Cause for Nighttime Search __ IS= Inadmissible Evidence __ IP= Insufficient Probable Cause __ LP= Lacks Prosecutorial Merit __UW= Unavailable or
Uncooperative Witness__ LJ= Lacks Jurisdiction Other: __________
__________
DISAPPROVED BY: _________________
ATTORNEY FOR COMMONWEALTHDATE: ______
(D) No defendant shall have the right to relief based solely upon a violation of this rule.
Comment This rule gives the district attorney of each county the option of requiring that criminal complaints and/or arrest warrant affidavits filed in that county by police officers, as defined in Rule 103, shall have the prior approval of an attorney for the Commonwealth. Under the rule, the district attorney may elect to require prior approval of police complaints, or arrest warrant affidavits (see Rule 513), or both. In addition, the district attorney is given the authority to define which offenses or grades of offenses will require such prior approval. For example, the district attorney may specify that prior approval will be required only if a felony is charged, or that prior approval will be required for all cases [;] , i.e., whenever a misdemeanor or felony is charged.
* * * * * As used in this rule, ''attorney for the Commonwealth'' is intended to include not only the district attorney and any deputy or assistant district attorney in the county, but also the Attorney General, and any deputy or assistant attorney general, in those cases which the Attorney General is authorized by law to prosecute in the county.
Nothing in this rule is intended to preclude the use of advanced communication technology or other electronic methods to convey the approval of the complaint or affidavit by the attorney for the Commonwealth to the police officer acting as affiant.
See Rule 202 for a similar option as to search warrant applications.
See Rule 544 for the procedures requiring the written approval of the attorney for the Commonwealth for the refiling of a complaint.
Official Note: Rule 101A adopted December 11, 1981, effective July 1, 1982; Comment revised July 12, 1985, effective January 1, 1986; January 1, 1986 effective date extended to July 1, 1986; renumbered Rule 107 and amended August 9, 1994, effective January 1, 1995; Comment revised October 8, 1999, effective January 1, 2000; renumbered Rule 507 and amended March 1, 2000, effective April 1, 2001; Comment revised February 26, 2010, effective April 1, 2010.
Committee Explanatory Reports:
Report explaining the August 9, 1994 amendments published at 22 Pa.B. 6 (January 4, 1992); Final Report published with the Court's Order at 24 Pa.B. 4325, 4342 (August 27, 1994).
Final Report concerning the October 8, 1999 Comment revision published with the Court's Order at 29 Pa.B. 5505, 5509 (October [8] 23, 1999).
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 February 26, 2010 Comment revision regarding electronic approval published with the Court's Order at 40 Pa.B. 1397, 1398 (March 13, 2010).
FINAL REPORT1
Revisions to the Comments to Pa.Rs.Crim.P. 202 and 507
ELECTRONIC APPROVAL OF SEARCH WARRANT AFFIDAVITS AND COMPLAINTS BY THE ATTORNEY FOR THE COMMONWEALTH On February 26, 2010, effective April 1, 2010, upon the recommendation of the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee, the Court approved the revisions to the Comments to Rules of Criminal Procedure 202 (Approval of Search Warrant Applications by Attorney for the Commonwealth—Local Option) and 507 (Approval of Police Complaints and Arrest Warrant Affidavits by Attorney for the Commonwealth—Local Option) clarifying that an attorney for the Commonwealth is not precluded from providing approval of search warrant applications, complaints, and arrest warrant affidavits electronically.
These changes were the result of a question presented to the Committee by the Pennsylvania District Attorney's Association. Specifically, they asked whether, under Rule 507, an attorney for the Commonwealth's approval for the filing of a criminal complaint could be done electronically and, if not, they asked that the rule be changed to permit the practice.
Rule 507 provides that, on a county-by-county basis, a district attorney may require that the police obtain the approval of an attorney for the Commonwealth before filing criminal complaints, arrest warrant affidavits, or both. Rule 507 requires the creation of a local rule to effectuate this procedure.
Although not explicitly required in the rule, the current practice is for that approval to be documented by the attorney for the Commonwealth signing the complaint. The current complaint form maintained by the AOPC effectuates this practice by referencing the Rule 507 approval option and providing a space for an approval signature.
The Committee concluded that permitting this approval to be provided electronically is an efficient use of resources and not inconsistent with the intention of the rules. For example, the rules authorize electronic signatures on legal documents generated by the court so it seems reasonable that the attorney for the Commonwealth's signature approving a complaint similarly could be electronically generated.2
The Committee also has learned that some counties currently permit the approval process to be done electronically, with no noted problems. Additionally, the AOPC has been working with the Pennsylvania State Police and several jurisdictions, including Allegheny County, on the creation of a system for the electronic preparation and transmission of criminal complaints. When this system is put in place, attorney for the Commonwealth approval by electronic signature will be a necessary component.
Therefore, the Committee developed a revision to the Comment to Rule 507 to provide that nothing under the rule precludes an attorney for the Commonwealth from using advanced communication technology3 or other electronic methods to convey the approval of the complaint to the affiant.
In developing this proposal, the Committee also determined that the concept underlying the proposed revision to the Rule 507 Comment is equally applicable to Rule 202 that provides for local approval procedures for search warrant applications similar to the Rule 507 local approval procedures for complaints. Therefore, a comparable provision has been added to the Rule 202 Comment.
Finally, there is also a minor change to the form portion of Rule 507, replacing the abbreviation ''PCIC'' with the more current ''CLEAN'' which is the abbreviation preferred by the Pennsylvania State Police to reference to the Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network utilized to conduct criminal history checks.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 10-436. Filed for public inspection March 12, 2010, 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 Rule 103 provides the following definition of ''Signature'':
SIGNATURE, when used in reference to documents generated by the minor judiciary or court of common pleas, includes a handwritten signature, a copy of a handwritten signature, a computer generated signature, or a signature created, transmitted, received, or stored by electronic means, by the signer or by someone with the signer's authorization, unless otherwise provided in these rules.3 Rule 103 defines ''advanced communications technology'' as:
ADVANCE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY is any communication equipment that is used as a link between parties in physically separate locations, and includes, but is not limited to: systems providing for two-way simultaneous communication of image and sound; closed-circuit television; telephone and facsimile equipment; and electronic mail.
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