# Rules of the District Court

These rules shall be cited as Barkl. D. Ct. #(#)(#)(#) For example, Barkl. D. Ct. 1(1) cites the format for criminal cases. In a different way, Barkl. D. Ct. 5(3)(6)(1) cites the duty of the presiding judge to court order residents contacting jurors.

### RULE 1 - ASSIGNMENT OF CASE NUMBERS

1. The Clerk of the District Court, the Chief Judge, or person otherwise responsible for the assignment of a case to a judge, shall ensure that the case gets assigned a case number. Case numbers shall be formatted as follows where the number symbols indicate a randomly generated number and “YY” indicates the last two numbers of the current year:
1. Criminal: CR-#####-YY
2. Civil: CV-#####-YY
3. Expungement: EX-#####-YY
4. Warrant Appeal: WA-#####-YY
5. Courts-Martial: CM-#####-YY

### RULE 2 - EFFECTIVE CRIMINAL SUBMISSIONS

1. Criminal submissions (those from the Department of Justice and Judge Advocate General’s Corps) must be promptly formatted by the Clerk of the District Court, the Chief Judge, or the person otherwise designated. The case number will be assigned as described in Rule 1 and the matter transferred to the appropriate charging agency for the filing of a criminal information.
2. Once the respective charging agency has made their criminal decision and gathered their evidence, the submission should be transferred back to the Clerk who will then assign it to a judge based on absence and/or overfill of cases.

### RULE 3 - PRETRIAL PERIOD

1. A pretrial period in criminal and civil matters (expungement excluded) shall be ordered immediately following the assignment of a case to the docket of a judge, and shall last exactly ten days. The person responsible for the assignment of the case shall set the pretrial period ending exactly ten days or two hundred and forty hours after it has been assigned to a judge.
3. The pretrial period may end before the ordered ten days if both parties to a matter agree to forgo the remainder of the ordered pretrial period.
4. A party may file a pretrial motion up until forty-eight (48) hours before the end of the pretrial period.
5. A party may only respond once to a pretrial motion if they wish to respond at all. That response must be filed within forty-eight (48) hours of the motion being made.
6. A judge may not permit the filing of any motion or response that is made outside of the pretrial period.
7. At the end of the pretrial period, the judge shall enter an order to all pretrial motions that have not already been decided. The judge is otherwise able to enter an order immediately after a motion is made and both parties respond or decline to respond.
8. The judge, immediately following the pretrial period, shall entertain all reasonable efforts to ensure that the case moves to trial.

### RULE 4 - ELECTRONIC OATHS

1. In the case that a witness or expert may only give testimony online, they are to be placed under oath by either the presiding judge or clerk (if available).
1. Affidavits by nature are under oath and do not require a judicial officer present.
3. Testimony by these witnesses and experts will occur in the case channel that the presiding judge's chamber has allotted for the case.

### RULE 5 - JUDGE ABSENCE

1. Should it become the case that the judge must enter a leave of absence that would impede on the speed and as such, due process of the pretrial period, the judge must inform both parties.
2. If at least one party requests a recusal of the presiding judge, the judge must inform the Clerk of the Court for re-assignment.
1. If both parties waive this request and allow the leave of absence, the pretrial timer is then frozen from the time both parties agree and continues when the judge's leave of absence expires.
4. The pretrial timer is frozen from the time of the Judge informing the Clerk of the Court and continues when the case is reassigned successfully.
5. The order for all motions submitted must be handed to the new judge for review.
6. The new judge may uphold, deny, and/or change the court's response to any previously submitted motion in the order.

### RULE 6 - CONFLICTING TRIAL DATES

1. In the event an attorney has two (2) cases scheduled for trial on the same date, the attorney shall promptly notify the judges and other counsel involved so the conflict may be resolved.
2. Upon being advised of a scheduling conflict, the presiding judge involved shall confer with counsels from both parties and with good faith of lay witnesses and experts. The following factors may be considered in resolving the conflict:
1. The nature of the cases as civil, criminal, and the presence of any speedy trial problems;
2. The length, urgency, or relative importance of the matters;
3. The involvement of witnesses, parties or counsel;
4. The age of the cases;
5. The matter that was set first;
6. Any priority granted by rule or statute; and/or
7. Any other pertinent factor

### RULE 7 - PRESIDING JURIES

1. Jury trials can only be used if:
1. The defense has requested for a jury trial,
2. The trial is a criminal trial,
3. The defendant has been charged with any felony relating to an abuse of power,
4. The presiding judge accepts the request, and
5. The discovery of evidence has been completed.
2. The presiding judge may deny this request for any reason deemed fit and fair, especially in preservation of due process and a speedy trial.
3. The Clerk of the Court will inform the Department of Public Safety of the beginning of jury selection and follow this order:
1. The Clerk of the Court will hand over all information regarding the case which includes the name of the presiding judge, counsels, defendant, witnesses, important parties, and any other vital information that would be important for a vetting process.
2. The Department of Public Safety will then investigate and vett members of the public based on criteria and selection policy maintained by the department.
3. The Department of Public Safety will then select at least 5 citizens and contact them about jury duty.
4. Those who accept jury duty are then classified as official jurors of the case and will then be updated on important court changes such as the trial date.
5. The Department of Public Safety will continue this process until at least 4 citizens have accepted jury duty.
4. Jurors should never be contacted about their relation or participation in a trial unless by the presiding judge or Department of Public Safety.
1. The presiding judge must court order those in violation and hold continuing offenders in contempt of court.
5. If there is a tie in jury decision, the presiding judge may allocate more time for deliberation.
6. If after 24 hours of deliberation starting from the end of the trial, no decision is found by the jury, the presiding judge will bench and form the decision of the court.