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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 24-333

THE COURTS

Title 255—LOCAL COURT RULES

MERCER COUNTY

Amendments to Local Rules of Judicial Administration; Order No. 2024-636

[54 Pa.B. 1312]
[Saturday, March 16, 2024]

 And Now, this 29th day of February 2024, the Court hereby Approves, Adopts, and Promulgates the following Amendments to the Mercer County Local Rules of Judicial Administration to include the following provisions regarding Custody of Exhibits.

 It Is Further Ordered and Directed that the District Court Administrator of Mercer County shall file one (1) certified copy of the Amendments with the Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts and furnish two (2) certified copies to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

 It Is Further Order and Directed that these Amendments shall be kept continuously available for public inspection and copying in the Office of the Clerk of Courts of Mercer County and the Office of the Prothonotary of Mercer County. This Order shall be published in the Mercer County Law Journal.

By the Court

DANIEL P. WALLACE, 
President Judge

AMENDMENTS TO LOCAL RULES OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION REGARDING CUSTODY OF EXHIBITS

 A. The Local Rules of Judicial Administration shall be amended to add the following:

Rule 5102. General Provisions.

 For all court proceedings, the court reporter, court recorder, or court monitor shall be designated as the ''Custodian,'' as defined by Pa.R.J.A. 5101(a)(2), for all submitted exhibits, either accepted or rejected, during a court proceeding.

 (a) Within 5 business days of the conclusion of a court proceeding, the Custodian shall file an index of all submitted exhibits with the appropriate records office, on a form that complies with Pa.R.J.A. 5102(b)(2).

 (b) If there are multiple Custodians involved with a proceeding, the first Custodian shall provide the subsequent Custodian (and so on, if more than two Custodians) with the submitted exhibits and the index of exhibits. The Custodian at the conclusion of the proceeding shall be responsible for filing an index of exhibits with the appropriate records office within 5 business days of the conclusion of the proceeding.

Rule 5103. Custody of Exhibits. Special Provisions.

 (a) The Custodian shall retain all exhibits during court proceedings.

 (b) Unless otherwise provided by the presiding judge, at the conclusion of the court proceeding, the Custodian shall retain all exhibits and shall arrange for their storage and maintenance in the secured exhibit storage room, in accordance with any applicable retention schedule, statute, rule, regulation, or policy, or until further Order of Court.

 (c) Unless otherwise ordered, the Custodian shall maintain all exhibits for a period of ten years except for exhibits submitted in a homicide case, which shall be maintained permanently.

 (d) Any digital exhibit that cannot be printed (i.e., audio or video recording) shall be entered into the record on a Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drive (or other format if expressly approved by the Court). If one party has multiple digital exhibits, they may be submitted together on one USB flash drive.

 (e) Any exhibit containing confidential information or equivalent to any of the categories enumerated in Pa. Access Policy § 8.0 shall include a Confidential Document Form so that the document can be properly sealed.

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 24-333. Filed for public inspection March 15, 2024, 9:00 a.m.]


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