THE COURTS
Title 255—LOCAL COURT RULES
CAMERON AND ELK COUNTIES
Adoption of Local Rules Custody of Exhibits; No. 2020-272 (Elk County); No. 2020-357 (Cameron County)
[54 Pa.B. 3928]
[Saturday, July 13, 2024]
Order of Court Now, June 28th, 2024, It Is Hereby Ordered and Decreed that the Local Rules of the 59th Judicial District of Pennsylvania are hereby amended to include new local rules 5102, 5103, and 5104, in accordance with Pa.R.J.A. 5101—5105 as ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
The District Court Administrator is respectfully directed to:
1. File this Order of Court in the Office of the Cameron County Prothonotary and the Office of the Elk County Prothonotary.
2. File one (1) copy with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts via e-mail to adminrules@pacourts. us.
3. File two (2) paper copies and one (1) electronic copy in a Microsoft Word format only to bulletin@palrb.us with the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
4. Incorporate these local rules into the set of Local Rules of the 59th Judicial District of Pennsylvania following publication of the local rules in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
5. Publish these Rules on the Court's website at www.co.elk.pa.us/judicial.
By the Court
SHAWN T. McMAHON,
President JudgeRule 5102. General Provisions.
The court reporter or court recorder/monitor for all, or a portion, of a court proceeding shall be designated as the ''Custodian,'' as defined by Pa.R.J.A. 5101(a)(2), for all documentary exhibits, photographs, and photographs of non-documentary exhibits accepted or rejected during the court proceeding.
(a) If only one custodian is involved with a proceeding, they shall file with the appropriate records office (Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts or Orphan's Court) all submitted exhibits and index of exhibits within five (5) business days of the conclusion of the proceeding.
(b) The custodian or designee shall prepare the Index of Exhibits during the court proceedings on a form supplied by Court Administration.
(1) If a designee is preparing the Index of Exhibits during a proceeding, the custodian shall obtain the Index of Exhibits prepared during the court proceeding from the designee and compare the exhibits in the possession of the custodian with the Index of Exhibits before filings the exhibits in the records office.
(c) The proponent shall assure that document evidence is in a formant, including size and material, that is compatible with being filed and easily stored by the records office. If, due to the nature of the proceeding and the requirement that an oversized or undersized document exhibit be entered into evidence that is not easily capable of storage by the records office, then the records office may request that alternate measures be undertaken for storage of this document evidence, including that the proponent retain custody in conformance with Rule 5103 for physical evidence.
(d) The proponent shall include a Confidential Information Form or Confidential Document Form for any exhibit offered into evidence that contains confidential information or confidential documents as defined in the Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania. These forms shall be given by the proponent to the custodian at the time the evidence is introduced.
(e) If multiple custodians are 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 index of exhibits. The custodian at the conclusion of the proceeding shall file with the appropriate records office all submitted exhibits and index of exhibits within five (5) business days of the conclusion of the proceeding.
Rule 5103. Special Provisions.
(a) The proponent shall retain custody of physical evidence (including, but not limited to weapons, cash, other items of value, drugs, or other dangerous materials) and bulky, oversized, or otherwise physically impractical exhibits at all times during and after a court proceeding unless otherwise directed by the Court.
(1) These non-documentary exhibits must be photographed by the proponent, converted to a letter-sized document (8-1/2 × 11 inches), and appropriately marked and produced during the court proceeding for inclusion in the documentary record. Photographs must be color photographs unless otherwise directed by the Court.
(2) Unless otherwise provided by the presiding judge, at the conclusion of the court proceeding, non-documentary evidence shall be returned to the proponent for safekeeping as required by any applicable retention schedule, statute, rule, regulation, or policy, or until further order of court.
(3) Unless otherwise ordered, the proponent or filing office shall maintain non-documentary exhibits for a minimum of following time periods:
(i) Non-criminal matters. Retain exhibits until the later of the expiration of the appeal period or final disposition of the appeal if one is taken.
(ii) Criminal matters:
1. Homicides. Retain exhibits 75 years.
2. Summary cases. Retain exhibits 5 years.
3. Other cases. Retain exhibits 20 years.
(iii) The document retention provision set forth above shall apply to any exhibits held currently by the custodian.
(iv) The custodian may submit a motion to the Court to address the conversion or retention of previously entered exhibits that are currently being held so long as any motion is served on the appropriate parties or counsel to their last known address.
(b) 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.
(c) Any exhibit containing confidential information or equivalent to any of the categories enumerated in the Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania shall include a Confidential Document Form so that the document can be properly sealed by the records office. These forms shall be given by the proponent to the custodian at the time the evidence is introduced.
(d) Media depositions presented at trial shall remain in the proponent's possession. The proponent shall simultaneously submit a transcript of the deposition as an exhibit.
Rule 5104. Exclusion.
Record hearings that may be appealed de novo to a court of common pleas or upon which exceptions or objections can be filed to a court of common pleas are excluded from the provisions of these Rules.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 24-977. Filed for public inspection July 12, 2024, 9:00 a.m.]
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