Rule 5 Criminal proceedings
Baldwin's Kentucky Revised Statutes Annotated3rd Judicial District - Christian District Court
KY RCCDC Rule 5
Rule 5 Criminal proceedings
Prisoner arraignments will be held every weekday all year, except on court holidays as set by the Administrative Office of the Courts.. Non-prisoner arraignments shall be held as set out hereinabove. If a judge is ill or absent, he shall request the judge of the other division or a special judge to arraign all prisoners for the county. All arraignments for prisoners arrested since the last court date and still incarcerated shall be handled through video arraignment from the Christian County Jail via video link in open court. The Judges may alter the video schedule on any given day due to malfunction, illness, absence or for convenience at the joint discretion of the judges.
Pretrial Conferences will be held on the date and time set out in the Pretrial Conference Order. Pretrial Conferences will be held as a matter of course in all criminal/traffic cases in which a jury or bench trial has been requested. At that time, both parties should exchange all proposed exhibits, proposed instructions, and any motions.
When the defendant's case has been scheduled for a trial, all reasonable efforts shall be made to prevent unnecessary delay of the trial and inconvenience to the jury. Attorneys and defendants are to use their best efforts towards settlement and should exhaust completely all efforts towards settlement no later than the date of the pretrial conference.
Motions on criminal or traffic matters will ordinarily be heard on Thursday afternoons, or at other times amenable to the parties and the Court, with scheduling via the Court's Administrative Assistant. Motions must be prepared and filed with the Clerk at least seven (7) days prior to the hearing date with copies of said motion to be served on both the opposing party and the Court's Administrative Assistant. Any motion not filed at least seven (7) days prior to the hearing date will be removed from the Court's motion docket and returned to the regular criminal or traffic docket for further proceedings.
Oral motions may be made on the record in open court, but in the discretion of the Court, may be set to be heard at a date and time later should the Court determine that a hearing on the motion at that time will disrupt on-going court proceedings.
Jury trials will be scheduled as follows:
Division I | Thursdays & Fridays | |
Division II | Tuesdays & Wednesdays |
The jury will be sealed promptly at 9:00 a.m. unless otherwise notified by the Court. Attorneys for both parties are expected to be in court prepared for any pretrial motions by 8:30 a.m. The parties should present to the court at that time the proposed instructions so that the case can proceed without undue delay.
Bench trials shall be set on written waiver of the Defendant, consent of the Commonwealth and approval of the Court.
All exhibits not required to be maintained or disposed of by statute filed in the Christian District Court shall be withdrawn by the party so filing within thirty (30) days after the appeal time in the case has expired, and upon the party's failure to do so, the Clerk is directed to destroy the same according to the retention schedule.
All defendants charged with violation of the penal statutes who are found by the Court to be indigent shall be represented by the Kentucky Department for Public Advocacy. The Court shall appoint that organization to conduct the defense of the case, subject only to recoupment orders based on ability to pay if appropriate in the discretion of the Court.
(a) Appointed Counsel. Except on a showing of extraordinary circumstances, counsel appointed by the Court will not be removed or permitted to withdraw on grounds of personality conflict or refusal of the defendant to cooperate with counsel. Appointed counsel may be allowed to withdraw if ability to pay for retained counsel is shown during representation, but before the day of trial. Withdrawal will not be allowed on the day of trial based on a defendant's newly acquired ability to pay for retained counsel.
(b) Retained Counsel. Except for good cause shown, retained counsel who has appeared for the defendant at any proceeding will not be permitted to withdraw prior to entry of final judgment without the filing of a written motion, served on the defendant, selling forth grounds for the motion. “Retained counsel” means any attorney authorized to practice before this Court who has not been appointed by the Court to represent the defendant.
Attorney appearances shall be made with a client for arraignment on felonies. No attorney may appear on behalf of his client for pre-trial conferencing, preliminary hearing or trial and excuse the presence of the Defendant, without leave of the Court. Only the Court may excuse the presence of the Defendant for good cause shown. Motions made by attorney for the Defendant do not require the presence of the Defendant unless requested by either party and notice given to the Defense counsel, (e.g. Motion for bond assignment when affidavit filed, motion for new trial date, motion for discovery.)
All motions for discovery made pursuant to RCr 7.24 shall be made at least thirty (30) days prior to the trial date. Failure to file a timely motion for discovery will be cause for the court to consider the discovery waived. All motions for discovery must be in writing and accompanied with a prepared order.
Copies of all search warrants and supporting affidavits shall be filed in the Clerk's office pursuant to RCr 13.10. An executed copy shall be filed by the executing officer in the clerk's office within 24 hours of execution, pursuant to CR 6.01. If an arrest results therefrom, the above paper shall be placed in the case file of the defendant. Supporting affidavits shall be sworn to before any judge.
In the interest of judicial efficiency and economy the following are accepted as local rules of practice concerning Traffic Court/Misdemeanor Court and attorneys. Clerk, officers, and defendants may rely on these rules to govern their advice and actions.
The Clerk may accept from the Defendant and file with the Court any proof of license or registration. No appearance will be necessary for the Court to dismiss.
Any Defendant may submit fines and court costs for pre-payable, statutorily set fines and court costs to the Circuit Clerk's office in advance of a court dale. Such submission may be accepted by the Court as a plea of guilty by the Defendant and will release the Defendant from personal appearance.
In the discretion of the presiding judge, bench warrants and failure to appear suspensions of driver's license will not be recalled without the appearance of a defendant in court. Such requests to recall bench warrants and failure to appear suspensions of driver's license shall be placed on the docket by written motion of attorneys or written request of defendants.
Even without the personal appearance of the Defendant, the Clerk shall consider as recalled any bench warrant for fines and court costs which have been paid in full and shall notify DOT to recall any attendant FTA of a driver's license.
Upon review of the Clerk's Manual and the correspondence of the Administrative Office of the Courts for the Christian Circuit Court Clerk regarding pre-payable offenses, the following shall govern Pre-payable Docketing by clerks:
(c) Statutory Corrections. The Clerk may correct any notation by an officer on a citation to conform to the Kentucky Revised Statutes regarding whether the citation requires a court appearance or may be pre-paid into court in lieu of appearance. Any fines and court costs assessed by an officer as pre-payable shall be honored by the Clerk.
(5) UOR Consistency with Charges. The Clerk shall have the authority to correct any obsolete UOR code used in a citation with the current up to date code for that same violation when entering citations: to correct any UOR code to match the charging language of the citation; and to correct any notation of Limited Access by adding or deleting the same in accordance with the DOT schedule of Limited Access Roads on file.
(6) Hardship License Requests. Defendants seeking Hardship Licenses following convictions in Driving Under the Influence cases may file the required Petition and Tendered Order and submit to the Clerk. The Clerk shall set matter for hearing on the next available court date in the appropriate division.
(3) Shock Probation Motions. Motions for Shock Probation shall be made in writing and filed with the clerk to be heard “At the Convenience of the Court.” When Shock Probation Motions are filed, the Clerk shall immediately submit the motion with the file to the Judge's chambers for review. Regardless of whether an attorney or party so requests or files, the Clerk shall not docket the motion for a motion day or bring a prisoner from jail without an Order from the judge. In conformance with KRS 439.267(2), hearings will only be set “in the discretion of the trial court.”
Credits
HISTORY: Adopted eff. 1-21-20
Christian District Court Rule 5, KY R CHRISTIAN DIST CT Rule 5
Current with amendments received through November 15, 2023. Some rules may be more current, see credits for details.
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