MEMO
TO: Joint Procedure Committee
FROM: Mike Hagburg
RE: Rule 5.1, N.D.R.Crim.P., Preliminary Examination
Form and style amendments to Fed.R.Crim.P. 5.1 were approved by Congress in December 2003. Attached is a proposed amended version of N.D.R.Crim.P. 5.1 which contains form and style amendments in the spirit of the federal amendments. The North Dakota rule is different in several ways from the federal rule, so the federal changes were not copied outright. No substantive change to N.D.R.Crim.P. 5.1 is intended--instead, the amendments are designed to make the rule more easily understood.
The rationale for the form and style changes proposed for N.D.R.Crim.P. 5.1 is explained in detail in Sara Selby's memo, which is attached. Also attached is a comparison of the old federal rule and the amended federal rule with commentary on the federal changes.
The Committee may want to take note of the new language beginning in the middle of line 15 of the proposed rule and continuing to the middle of line 17. The language is taken from the federal rule. However, it may not be appropriate in North Dakota because it seems to assume that a "copy of the recording" of the proceeding (in addition to a transcript) will be available in all cases.