Chapter 4 : Rules of Criminal Practice
RULE 4.1 Criminal Arraignment Session
RULE 4.11 Centralized Payment Division
RULE 4.2 Preliminary Hearing Session
RULE 4.3 Continuances of Arraignments
RULE 4.4 Pre-Trial Procedure
RULE 4.5 Bail in Misdemeanor and Felony Cases
RULE 4.5.1 Registration if Bail Bond Agents
RULE 4.6 Jail Lists
RULE 4.7 Appearance of Arrested Persons
RULE 4.8 Issuance of Warrants and Contempt Capiases in Unassigned Cases
RULE 4.9 Subpoenas
RULE 4.10 Pleadings and Motions Before Trial:Defenses & Objections
RULE 4.11 Centralized Payment Division
RULE 4.12 Notice of Appeal in Criminal Cases
RULE 4.13 Criminal Case Management Plan
Rule 4.1 CRIMINAL ARRAIGNMENT SESSION
- The arraignment session duty judge shall conduct initial appearances of all persons charged with felonies, shall arraign all persons charged with misdemeanors and shall hear and dispose of all cases in which pleas of guilty or no contest are entered. The judge so assigned shall also arraign all persons charged with traffic offenses who have not been released from confinement.
- Defendants released prior to arraignment, bonded out, or summoned shall appear before the Magistrate handling the Criminal/Traffic docket. The Magistrate may conduct any other criminal proceedings authorized by Criminal Rule 19.
- Upon release of a defendant from pre-trial confinement or upon the issuance of summons, the Clerk shall assign an initial appearance or arraignment date. At the initial appearance for a misdemeanor, the defendant or counsel may enter one of the following pleas: (1) not guilty; (2) no contest; (3) guilty; or (4) not guilty by reason of insanity. If a jury trial is requested, a written demand for jury trial must be filed with the Clerk of Court pursuant to Crim. R. 23.
- Prior to arraignment, the defendant's counsel may file a written appearance and a plea of not guilty, pursuant to Crim. R. 10(B), except in domestic violence cases or where otherwise prohibited by law. The written plea may be mailed or faxed and must be received by the court before the arraignment date. A faxed plea must be followed by the original document within forty-eight (48) hours. If the original document is not delivered to this court within forty-eight (48) hours, the defendant shall appear before the court to enter a plea. No plea or appearance will be accepted by telephone.
Rule 4.11 CENTRALIZED PAYMENT DIVISION
The Centralized Payment Division is established as the Violations Bureau and has the authority to process and dispose of minor misdemeanor and traffic violations pursuant to Crim. R. 4.1, Sup. R.18 and Traf. R. 13. The Clerk of Court is appointed as the Violations Clerk to collect fines, give receipts therefore and render accounts of the Division and to accept guilty pleas. The Centralized Payment Division shall prominently display a statement of defendant rights and a schedule of fines and costs.
Upon a defendant's entry of a not guilty plea, the case shall be assigned for trial in accordance with DMCR 2.2.
Rule 4.2 PRELIMINARY HEARING SESSION
Preliminary hearings shall be conducted in accordance with Crim. R. 5(B).
Rule 4.3 CONTINUANCES OF ARRAIGNMENTS
The arraignment session duty judge or magistrate may grant a continuance of arraignment not to exceed seven (7) days from the original arraignment date. Additional continuances, without plea, may be granted only with the approval of the duty judge or magistrate upon good cause shown. Continuances allowed shall be scheduled on a specific date.
Rule 4.4 PRE-TRIAL PROCEDURE
All first through fourth degree misdemeanors are pre-tried unless the defendant is incarcerated. On cases not automatically set for pre-trial, a written request must be filed.
Rule 4.5 BAIL IN MISDEMEANOR AND FELONY CASES
Before assignment in misdemeanor cases, the arraignment session duty judge or magistrate may set any bail which is proper pursuant to the considerations listed in Crim. R. 46(F). If the arraignment session duty judge is unavailable, then any judge of the court may set proper bail. In those cases assigned to a judge, no judge shall set aside the bail set by the judge to whom the case is assigned, except in the absence of such judge and then only the Administrative Judge. In felony cases, bail shall be set by the criminal arraignment session duty judge.
Rule 4.5.1 REGISTRATION OF BAIL BOND AGENTS
- The Dayton Municipal Court requires a bail bond agent to register with the Clerk of the Dayton Municipal Court before a bond may be filed in this court. (O.R.C. 3905.87).
- To register, a bail bond agent shall file with the Clerk of Court, Criminal Division, a certified copy of the surety bail bond agent's appointment by power of attorney from each insurer that the bail bond agent represents.
- The bail bond agent shall keep his or her registration current by filing a certified copy of a renewed power of attorney by the first day of August of each odd-numbered year.
- A bail bond agent must produce a current state bail license each time a bond is filed in the Dayton Municipal Court. (O.R.C. 3905.84 & 3905.85).
Rule 4.6 JAIL LISTS
- The jail administrator shall cause every person booked into the Dayton City Jail and not released on bail to be brought before the appropriate judge or magistrate within one (1) court day after booking.
- The jail administrator shall cause to be prepared and delivered each morning prior to 8:00 A.M. to all Dayton Municipal Court judges a jail list which shall contain at least the following information:
- The name, including any known aliases, of every person in custody in the City Jail as of 5:00 A.M. who has not appeared before a judge since being booked;
- The charge or charges on which such person was booked;
- Whether the person has been booked on a capias or warrant;
- If the person is wanted in another jurisdiction, the name of such jurisdiction.
- For the convenience of court personnel in arraignment court, the list shall be divided into three sections: felonies, traffic offenses, and criminal misdemeanors. Additionally, for the convenience of Dayton Police Detectives, the felony portion will show the name of the arresting officer(s).
- For convenience of all court personnel, the jail list shall also include a separate section with the name, court appearance time, and courtroom assignment of each person in the City Jail scheduled for trial or preliminary hearing on that date.
- During the course of the court day (8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.), the jail administrator shall cause the jail list to be continuously updated by advising the court at appropriate intervals of persons booked since the last update, persons released on bail or otherwise, persons unable to appear in court because of mental illness or otherwise, and persons transferred to other institutions.
- The jail administrator shall cause the jail personnel to safely keep all documents forwarded to the jail from the court. Such documents shall be kept in such manner as to be readily accessible upon court request in either alphabetic or chronological order and shall be retained by the jail personnel for an indefinite period pending court- ordered destruction or transfer to another facility.
- The jail list shall be prepared in a consistent form from day to day.
- The jail administrator shall cause to be prepared and attached to the jail list a weekly list of those persons confined in the Montgomery County Jail showing their names, case numbers, status lines, charges, and bonds.
Rule 4.7 APPEARANCE OF ARRESTED PERSONS
- Persons arrested and held in custody shall appear at the next regularly scheduled session of the court, except persons charged with misdemeanors who have been released on bail.
- Probable cause hearings are conducted for anyone arrested and held for a minimum of forty-eight (48) hours in order to show good cause to detain without charges being filed.
- Defendants charged with misdemeanors who are released on bail shall be given a notice of appearance in writing by the Clerk of Court directing their attention to the time and place for appearance at arraignment. The appearance date in cases where the charge is operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or any drug of abuse must be set for arraignment within five (5) days of the arrest.
- Persons charged with felonies who are released on bail set by a judge shall appear at a time and date set by the judge setting the bond or at the time and date set by the Clerk of Court.
- Where the court has issued a warrant for the arrest of a person who has previously failed to answer a notice to appear, citation, or summons, or where the court has issued a bench warrant upon the failure of a person to appear in accordance with the conditions of his release on bail, upon the apprehension or appearance of such person upon such warrant or bench warrant, his case shall be brought before the next regular or special session of the court.
Rule 4.8 ISSUANCE OF WARRANTS AND CONTEMPT CAPIASES IN UNASSIGNED CASES
Pursuant to Crim. R. 4, statutory law and judicial order, in any case when it appears from the record that the defendant has failed to appear in response to a summons or traffic citation, the Clerk of Court shall issue a warrant or capias for the arrest of the defendant.
Rule 4.9 SUBPOENAS
Subpoenas shall be processed by the Clerk of Court from a praecipe filed by defense counsel. All other subpoenas are processed by the prosecuting attorney's office. The praecipe shall be filed at least five (5) days in advance of the trial date. Subpoenas shall be served as follows:
- Personally by the Bailiff's Office, unless personal service is not possible, at which time the subpoenas shall be served by ordinary mail. The envelope shall bear a request for return to the Clerk of Court's office if not delivered at once. The Clerk of Court shall make a return on the reverse side of the subpoena showing the name and address where the subpoena was served. When the envelope is returned showing failure of delivery, the Clerk of Court shall attach the envelope to the complaint.
- When the Clerk issues a subpoena for the attendance of a Dayton police officer, a deputy clerk shall deliver the subpoena for service to the Supervisor of the Police Court Detail. The Supervisor, as an ex officio bailiff of this court, is designated as the person to make service of subpoenas on Dayton police officers. The Department of Police shall make appropriate arrangements for notifying a subpoenaed officer. Each Dayton police officer, as an ex officio bailiff of this court, is ordered to promptly present himself to the Supervisor of the Court Detail to accept service of any subpoena issued for his attendance, upon receipt of notice of its issuance. The Supervisor or his designee shall serve subpoenas and make due return to the Clerk.
Rule 4.10 PLEADINGS AND MOTIONS BEFORE TRIAL: DEFENSES AND OBJECTIONS
Crim. R. 12 shall be followed. TOP
Rule 4.11 CENTRALIZED PAYMENT DIVISION
The Centralized Payment Division is established. The Clerk of Court is appointed to collect fines, give receipts therefor and render accounts of the Division and to accept guilty pleas. The Centralized Payment Division shall prominently display a statement of defendants' rights and a schedule of fines and costs. Upon a defendant's entry of a not guilty plea, the case shall be assigned for trial in accordance with DMCR 2.2.
Rule 4.12 NOTICE OF APPEAL IN CRIMINAL CASES
All notice of appeal must be filed with the Clerk of Court, Criminal Division. TOP
Rule 4.13 CRIMINAL CASE MANAGEMENT PLAN
- PURPOSE: The purpose of this rule is to establish, pursuant to Sup. R. 5, a system for criminal case management to achieve the prompt and fair administration of criminal cases. These rules are to be applied to eliminate the unnecessary delay and expense for all parties involved.
- SCHEDULING OF EVENTS: After the initial appearance, the assigned judge shall conduct an early case management conference. Following the early case management conference, each case may be scheduled in four (4) judicial steps:
- Pre-trials: At any time after the initial appearance, the court may, on its own motion, or upon the written motion of any party, order one or more conferences to consider such matters as will promote a fair and expeditious trial. The pre-trial shall be conducted in accordance with Ohio Crim. R. 17.1. Any attorney who fails to appear for pre-trial without just cause being shown may be punished for contempt of court. If the parties cannot resolve the case, then the case should be set for trial.
- Motions: All motions shall be made in writing and accompanied by a written memorandum containing the arguments supporting the motion. Motions must be filed within the time limits established by the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure. All motions shall be set for oral hearing.
- Trials: Each case not resolved at pre-trial conference shall be set for trial to the court. If a written jury demand is timely filed then the case will be moved to the jury trial schedule.
- Sentencing: Sentencing hearings shall be set within seven (7) days from trial if no pre-sentence report is requested. After the court receives the pre-sentence report, the court will set the matter for sentencing within seven (7) days.