THE COURTS
Title 255—LOCAL COURT RULES
YORK COUNTY
Adoption of Local Rule of Judicial Administration 5104 and Renumbering of Rule 7040; CP-67-AD-8-2024; 2024-MI-188; 6724-0533
[54 Pa.B. 1313]
[Saturday, March 16, 2024]
Administrative Order Adopting York County Rule of Judicial Administration 5104 and Renumbering Rule 7040 Regarding Custody and Presentation of Exhibits in Court Proceedings And Now, this 4th day of March, 2024, it is Ordered that York County Local Rule of Judicial Administration 5104 is adopted, and Rule 7040 is renumbered, effective April 1, 2024.
The District Court Administrator shall publish this order as may be required.
By the Court
MARIA MUSTI COOK,
President JudgeMaterial to be added is bolded and underlined.
Material to be deleted is bolded and bracketed.
Rule 5104. Custody and Presentation of Exhibits in Court Proceedings.
(A) This Rule shall apply to all record proceedings before this Court of Common Pleas.
(B) Designation of Custodian. Pursuant to Pa.R.J.A. 5102, each proponent offering evidence is designated as the custodian of that evidence at all times prior to the Court directing transfer of custody of the evidence to the appropriate filing office.
(C) Exhibit Tracking Form.
(1) Each proponent shall prepare exhibit tracking indexes utilizing a form to be designated by this Court and made available by the District Court Administrator through each filing office.
(2) Each proponent, at or prior to the beginning of the proceeding, shall provide copies of the exhibit tracking indexes to the presiding judge or hearing officer and opposing counsel or self-represented litigants.
(3) Proponents shall not include any information on the indexes that would require designation of the indexes as confidential documents pursuant to the Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania: Case Records of the Appellate and Trial Courts.
(4) Each proponent shall annotate the original exhibit tracking indexes throughout the proceeding.
(5) When directed by the Court, each proponent and the filing office representative shall note the physical and custodial transfer of exhibits to the filing office on the original exhibit tracking indexes, at which time the filing office shall become custodian of the exhibits. Typically, this transfer shall take place in the courtroom at the conclusion of the proceeding. However, if an exhibit is large, valuable, dangerous, or requires reproduction as a facsimile for inclusion in the record, the Court may direct that the transfer of exhibits to the filing office occur at a later time or location as agreed upon by the proponent, filing office, and other interested parties.
(6) The filing office shall make the original exhibit tracking indexes part of the record of the case.
(7) Any party may request copies of the completed exhibit tracking indexes from the filing office after conclusion of the proceeding, in a manner prescribed by each filing office.
[Rule 7040.] (D) Digital Media as Evidence.
[(A)] (1) ''Electronic evidence'' refers to media created, transmitted, or stored in digital format including, but not limited to, all documents, photographs, audio files, video files, text messages, and/or social media excerpts proposed to be submitted as evidence or exchanged in discovery which is transmitted in any form other than paper.
[(B)] (2) All electronic evidence to be presented in a court proceeding or submitted into the record for the York County Court of Common Pleas shall comply with the requirements of this Rule. Any electronic evidence that does not comply with this rule will not become a part of the record of the case.
[(C)] (3) When electronic evidence is used during a court proceeding, the party submitting electronic evidence shall:
[(1)] (a) provide a device by which the electronic evidence may be viewed or played which shall have an output which is compatible with the technology in the courtroom;
[(2)] (b) be familiar with how to operate the device so that the electronic evidence can be viewed;
[(3)] (c) make the electronic evidence available for use by the opposing parties during cross-examination of the same witness for which it was originally used;
[(4)] (d) provide the clerk with the electronic evidence, as amended through trial, on its submitted storage device with data preserved in its native format that shall:
[(a)] (i) have files formatted to a file type, whenever possible, consistent with the acceptable file types periodically published by the court. When a file type is unique or proprietary, the party must provide the appropriate codex or other software to be able to open and view the file on any computer;
[(b)] (ii) have individual files with each file name consistent with how the file will be referenced on the record (e.g., ''Commonwealth's Exhibit 1'');
[(c)] (iii) be provided on a secure and protected media storage device (see [(D)] (4), below); and
[(d)] (iv) be identified with a label that shall be affixed to each storage device legibly identifying the case caption (which may be abbreviated), docket number(s), and disk number (1 of 2, etc.) if there is more than one media storage device per case. If it is impractical to affix such label directly on the media storage device, the media storage device shall be submitted in an 8 1/2" by 11" envelope which shall be labeled with all the above information.
[(D)] (4) The court only accepts the media storage device and file types as periodically published by the court on its public website. The court shall periodically seek input from the York County Bar Association regarding device and file types commonly in use by practi- tioners. Such storage devices shall be for the exclusive use of the courts and authorized court personnel, unless otherwise ordered.
[(E)] (5) The clerk shall retain electronic evidence for the same time frame as it would retain any other form of evidence.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 24-335. Filed for public inspection March 15, 2024, 9:00 a.m.]
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