Pennsylvania Code
Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

• No statutes or acts will be found at this website.

The Pennsylvania Bulletin website includes the following: Rulemakings by State agencies; Proposed Rulemakings by State agencies; State agency notices; the Governor’s Proclamations and Executive Orders; Actions by the General Assembly; and Statewide and local court rules.

PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 23-1277

THE COURTS

Title 234—RULES OF
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

[ 234 PA. CODE CH. 5 ]

Order Amending Rule 574 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure; No. 548 Criminal Procedural Rules Docket

[53 Pa.B. 5885]
[Saturday, September 23, 2023]

Order

Per Curiam

 And Now, this 11th day of September, 2023, upon the recommendation of the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee; the proposal having been submitted without publication pursuant to Pa.R.J.A. 103(a):

 It is Ordered pursuant to Article V, Section 10 of the Constitution of Pennsylvania that Rule 574 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure is amended in the attached form.

 This Order shall be processed in accordance with Pa.R.J.A. 103(b), and shall be effective January 1, 2024.

 Additions to the rule are shown in bold and are underlined.

 Deletions from the rule are shown in bold and brackets.

Annex A

TITLE 234. RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

CHAPTER 5. PRETRIAL PROCEDURES IN COURT CASES

PART G. Procedures Following Filing of Information

 (Editor's Note: Rule 574 as printed in 234 Pa. Code reads ''Official Note'' rather than ''Note.'')

Rule 574. Forensic Laboratory Report; Certification In Lieu of Expert Testimony.

 [(A)] (a) In any trial, the attorney for the Commonwealth may seek to offer into evidence a forensic laboratory report supported by a certification, as provided in [paragraph (E)] subdivision (e), in lieu of testimony by the person who performed the analysis or examination that is the subject of the report.

 [(B)] (b) Notice.

 (1) If the attorney for the Commonwealth intends to offer the forensic laboratory report and accompanying certification as provided in [paragraph (A)] subdivision (a) as evidence at trial, the attorney for the Commonwealth shall file and serve, as provided in Rule 576, upon the defendant's attorney or, if unrepresented, the defendant a written notice of that fact at the time of the disclosure of the report but no later than 20 days prior to the start of trial.

 (2) The notice shall include a statement informing the defendant that, as provided in [paragraph (C)(3)] subdivision (c)(3), if no written demand for testimony by the person who performed the analysis or examination that is the subject of the forensic laboratory report is made within 10 days of the service of the notice, the forensic laboratory report and accompanying certification are admissible in evidence without the person who performed the analysis or examination testifying.

 (3) Except as provided in [paragraph (C)] subdivision (c), the laboratory report and accompanying certification are admissible in evidence to the same effect as if the person who performed the analysis or examination had personally testified.

 [(C)] (c) Demand.

 (1) Within 10 days of service of the notice provided in [paragraph (B)] subdivision (b), the defendant's attorney, or if unrepresented, the defendant may file and serve, as provided in Rule 576, upon the attorney for the Commonwealth a written demand for the person who performed the analysis or examination that is the subject of the forensic laboratory report to testify at trial.

 (2) If a written demand is filed and served, the forensic laboratory report and accompanying certification are not admissible under [paragraph (B)(3)] subdivision (b)(3) unless the person who performed the analysis or examination testifies.

 (3) If no demand for live testimony regarding the forensic laboratory report and accompanying certification is filed and served within the time allowed by this section, the forensic laboratory report and accompanying certification are admissible in evidence without the person who performed the analysis or examination testifying.

 [(D)] (d) Extension. For cause shown, the judge may:

 (1) extend the time period for filing the notice or for filing the demand for live testimony[,]; or

 (2) [may] grant a continuance of the trial.

 [(E)] (e) Certification.

 The person who performed the analysis or examination that is the subject of the forensic laboratory report shall complete a certification in which the person shall state:

 (1) the education, training, and experience that qualify him or her to perform the analysis or examination;

 (2) the entity by which he or she is employed and a description of his or her regular duties;

 (3) the name and location of the laboratory where the analysis or examination was performed;

 (4) any state, national, or international accreditations of the laboratory at which the analysis or examination was performed; [and]

 (5) that the analysis or examination was performed under industry-approved procedures or standards; and

 (6) the report accurately reflects the findings and opinions of the person who performed the analysis or examination regarding the results of the analysis or examination.

Comment:

 This rule was adopted in 2014 to address the issues raised by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, [129 U.S. 2527] 557 U.S. 305 (2009), that held that the 6th Amendment confrontation right precluded presentation of laboratory reports without a live witness testifying in the trial. In Melendez-Diaz, the U.S. Supreme Court noted with approval the use of ''notice and demand'' procedures as a means of permitting routine laboratory reports to be admitted without the expense of supporting the admission by live expert testimony while protecting a defendant's confrontation rights.

 This rule provides a ''notice and demand'' procedure for Pennsylvania. Under the rule, the attorney for the Commonwealth may seek to admit a forensic laboratory report as evidence without the testimony of the analyst who performed the testing that was the subject of the report if notice requirements are met and no demand for the presence of the analyst is made. If the defendant makes such a demand, the analyst would be required to testify before the report could be admitted into evidence.

 Nothing in this rule is intended to preclude a stipulation agreed to by the parties for the admission of the laboratory report without the analyst's presence.

 Nothing in the rule would prevent further stipulation by the parties in light of the admission of the report and certification.

 Nothing in this rule is intended to change the requirement for the provision of discovery under Rule 573.

 Under [paragraph (D)] subdivision (d), the trial judge may permit filing of the notice or demand after the time period required in the rule if the party seeking the late filing shows cause for the delay. In the situation where the judge permits the late filing of the notice, the defendant still has 10 days in which to make the demand for the live testimony of the analyst. This may necessitate a continuance of the trial.

 The certification in [paragraph (E)] subdivision (e) does not require a description of the actual tests performed for the analysis. This information more properly belongs in the report itself. Since one of the goals of this rule is to permit the defendant to make an informed decision regarding whether to demand the live testimony of the analyst, the report should provide information sufficient to describe the methodology by which the results were determined.

 For purposes of this rule, a laboratory is ''accredited'' when its management, personnel, quality system, operational and technical procedures, equipment and physical facilities meet [standards established by a recognized state, national, or international accrediting organization such as the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accrediting Board (ASCLD/LAB) or Forensic Quality Services—International (FQS-I)] the ISO/IEC 17025 standard in the forensic field of testing as determined by an International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation recognized accreditation organization that has been evaluated to meet the ISO/IEC 17011 standard and that has expertise in the forensic laboratory accreditation field.

 [Note: New Rule 574 adopted February 19, 2014, effective April 1, 2014.

 Committee Explanatory Reports:

 Final Report explaining new Rule 574 providing for notice and demand procedures regarding forensic laboratory reports published with the Court's Order at 44 Pa.B. 1311 (March 8, 2014).]

SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA
CRIMINAL PROCEDURAL RULES COMMITTEE

ADOPTION REPORT

Amendment of Pa.R.Crim.P. 574

 On September 11, 2023, the Supreme Court amended Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 574 governing the admission of a certified forensic lab report in lieu of the expert appearing and testifying in court. The Criminal Procedural Rules Committee has prepared this Adoption Report describing the rulemaking process. An Adoption Report should not be confused with Comments to the rules. See Pa.R.J.A. 103, cmt. The statements contained herein are those of the Committee, not the Court.

 The Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee was asked to consider a new Rule of Juvenile Court Procedure similar to Pa.R.Crim.P. 574 (Forensic Laboratory Report; Certification In Lieu of Expert Testimony). The proposed rule would govern the admission of a certified forensic lab report in lieu of the expert appearing and testifying in court. One reason for the requested rulemaking was to increase consistency among the bodies of rules for prosecutors and defenders crossing over from criminal proceedings to delinquency proceedings. To that end, the Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee published for comment proposed Pa.R.J.C.P. 405. See 52 Pa.B. 7266 (November 26, 2022).

 One commenter, the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation, recommended that the Comment not name specific certifying organizations because the certifying organization contained in the Comment no longer exists as named. Instead, the Association suggested referencing the forensic testing standard and the standard for the accrediting body. The Association provided information as to the specific standards. That suggestion was incorporated into the Comment to Pa.R.J.C.P. 405. Because the same certifying organization was referenced in the Comment to Pa.R.Crim.P. 574, the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee has likewise incorporated the Association's suggestion into the Comment to Pa.R.Crim.P. 574. Additionally, Pa.R.Crim.P. 574 has been restyled, subdivision (d) and (e) have been deconstructed to improve readability, and a citation to authority has been corrected.

 The following commentary has been removed from Rule 574:

 Official Note: New Rule 574 adopted February 19, 2014, effective April 1, 2014.

 Committee Explanatory Reports:

 Final Report explaining new Rule 574 providing for notice and demand procedures regarding forensic laboratory reports published with the Court's Order at 44 Pa.B. 1311 (March 8, 2014).

 The amendment of Rule 574 becomes effective January 1, 2024.

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 23-1277. Filed for public inspection September 22, 2023, 9:00 a.m.]


No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.

This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.