Justices issue new criminal, administrative rules

IL file photo

The Indiana Supreme Court has issued a new set of Rules of Criminal Procedure, deleting 10 rules and rearranging several others. The court also announced three new administrative rules governing caseloads, reassignments and special judge appointments, and transfers of criminal cases.

The new rules were released in a June 23 order and will take effect Jan. 1, 2024.

The new order of the criminal rules will be as follows:

• Rule 1.1: Scope of rules
• Rule 1.2: Public access and confidentiality of records
• Rule 1.3: Appearance
• Rule 1.4: Investigation process
• Rule 2.1: Information or indictment
• Rule 2.2: Presence of prosecutor
• Rule 2.3: Initial hearing
• Rule 2.4: Change of venue or judge
• Rule 2.5: Discovery
• Rule 2.6: Pretrial release
• Rule 2.7: Written motions and legal memoranda
• Rule 3.1: Jury trials — demand, notice and waiver
• Rule 3.2: Jury instructions
• Rule 3.3: Considering and accepting a plea of guilty or guilty but mentally ill
• Rule 3.4: Entry of judgment
• Rule 4: Impact of delay in criminal trials
• Rule 4.1: Computation of time
• Rule 4.2: Commencement of Rule 4 time periods for those incarcerated outside the state or in another county
• Rule 5.1: Advisements after sentencing
• Rule 5.2: Abstract of judgment
• Rule 5.3: Motion to correct error
• Rule 5.4: Time within which the appeal must be submitted
• Rule 6.1: Capital cases
• Rule 6.2: Right to counsel in juvenile delinquency proceedings 

The deleted rules include current rules 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 18, 20 and 23. Aside from rules 7, joint and several, and 20, extensions of time, each of the deleted rules are covered in the Trial, Evidence or Administrative rules.

The new administrative rules include:

• Rule 1(E)(6): Assignment of criminal cases
• Rule 21: Criminal case reassignment and special judges
• Rule 22: Transfer of criminal cases

The court’s order includes a conversion table comparing the new rules to the existing rules.

The new Administrative Rule 1(E)(6) provides that a caseload allocation plan “must include provision for non-discretionary assignment of all felony and misdemeanor cases filed in the county, with consideration of workload in each court in other areas; provision for continued assignment of a judge in the event of a dismissal; and provision for reassignment in the event a change of judge is granted under Ind. Criminal Rule 2.4 or an order of disqualification is entered in the case.”

The new Administrative Rule 21 includes six sections regarding criminal case reassignment and special judges:

• Selection under local rule adopted by counties
• Appointment by Indiana Supreme Court
• Qualification and oath
• Discontinuation of service
• Compensation
• Continuation of jurisdiction

Finally, the new Administrative Rule 22, on transfer of criminal cases, includes four sections:

• Transfer of cases from city and town courts
• Transfer of cases to city and town courts
• Transfer of probation supervision between counties after sentencing
• Fee for intrastate transfer of probation supervision

All justices concurred.