MEMO
TO: Joint Procedure Committee
FROM: Mike Hagburg
RE: Supreme Court Approval of Rules Package
By order dated December 20, 2005, the North Dakota Supreme Court approved the Committee's criminal rules/annual rules package. The rules as amended will take effect March 1, 2006. A copy of a synopsis of the amendments as adopted is attached.
For the most part, the Court adopted the amendments proposed by the Committee. Minor changes made by the Court included making sure the new 10-day deadlines proposed by the Committee were consistently added throughout the criminal rules and also making sure that references to N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 52 on interactive television were added when appropriate.
Perhaps the biggest change related to interactive television was made in N.D.R.Crim.P. 43 (Defendant's Presence). Rule 43 now contains the following language: "Presence by interactive television is presence for the purposes of this rule."
The Court did not accept the Committee's proposal to add language on "harmless error" to N.D.R.Crim.P. 11 (Pleas). Instead, the Court decided to retain the old explanatory note reference on the general application of N.D.R.Crim.P. 52's harmless error provision.
The Court did not accept the Committee's suggestion on amending N.D.R.Crim.P. 46 (Release from Custody) to add a random drug testing provision. A case on the random drug testing statute is currently pending before the Court.
Finally, the Court decided to adopt language from Fed.R.Crim.P. 51 on preserving claimed error. N.D.R.Crim.P. 51 now contains a new subdivision (a) that discusses steps a party must take to preserve a claim of error.