Local Rule Rule 39: Trial by Jury or by the Court

RULE 39 TRIAL BY JURY OR BY THE COURT

(a) Examination of Witnesses.

Upon oral motion by a party or on its own motion, the court may order, on the terms it may prescribe, that a witness under examination in court shall not discuss the witness's testimony, including during any recess taken during the examination or before the witness is finally excused.

(b) Exhibits.

(1) Custody and Marking. All exhibits shall be marked for identification prior to trial in accordance with the final pretrial order. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, all exhibits offered in evidence, whether admitted or not, shall be submitted in accordance with the Jury Evidence Recording System ("JERS") guidelines and shall be held in the custody of the clerk during the pendency of the proceedings, except that exhibits which because of their size or nature require special handling shall remain in the possession of the party introducing them. Exhibits retained by counsel shall be preserved in the form in which they were offered until the proceeding is finally concluded. A party who offers valuable exhibits shall be responsible for their insurance and protection.

(2) Inspection and Copying of Exhibits. All inspections of exhibits of any type shall be conducted in the presence of the courtroom deputy clerk. Inspections by attorneys for the parties are not excepted from this rule, nor is application of this rule affected by whether the inspection is being made with or without specific leave of court.

(A) Sensitive Exhibits. Any interested party may move the court to designate evidence as sensitive or special. Evidence so designated may not be inspected or copied, photographed or otherwise reproduced without prior leave of the court. This type of evidence includes, without limitation, trade secrets, confidential information, narcotics, weapons, currency, exhibits of a pornographic nature, articles of high monetary value, exhibits depicting or describing a particularly violent crime, and any other evidence designated by the court.

(B) Sealed Exhibits. Exhibits ordered sealed or impounded by the Court may not be inspected or copied by anyone, including attorneys for the parties, except upon leave of the Court.

(C) Other Exhibits. Attorneys of record for any party may inspect or copy all exhibits, other than those exhibits defined in (A) and (B) above, without specific leave of Court.

(3) Return. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, exhibits shall be withdrawn by counsel who offered them within thirty (30) days after the parties have exhausted their appeals before the court of appeals. Upon counsel's failure to remove any exhibit timely, the clerk may, after due notice to counsel, dispose of them as necessary.

(c) Official Record.

The official record of court proceedings shall consist of the following:

(1) The official docket entries and documents related to them;

(2) Transcripts prepared by U.S. Court-employed or contracted court reporters;

(3) Electronic sound recordings of court proceedings made by courtroom deputy clerks using the For-the-Record (FTR) recording system; and

(4) Transcripts from FTR-recorded proceedings prepared by certified court reporters employed by the district court or certified transcribers of FTR-recorded proceedings authorized by the district court.

Private transcriptions of FTR-recorded proceedings shall not constitute an official record of the court.