N.D.R.Crim.P.
RULE 20. TRANSFER FROM THE COUNTY FOR PLEA AND SENTENCE
(a) Indictment, Information, or Complaint pending Consent to Transfer. A defendant arrested, held, or present in any prosecution may be transferred from the county other than that in which where the indictment, information, or complaint is pending against to the county where the defendant is arrested, held or present if:
(1) may state the defendant states in writing the an intention to plead guilty, and to waive trial in the county in which where the indictment, information, or complaint is pending, and to consent to disposition consents in writing to the court's disposing of the case in the transferee county in which the defendant was arrested, held, or present, and files the statement in the transferee county; and
(2) subject to the approval of the prosecuting attorney attorneys for each county approve the transfer in writing.
(b) Clerk's Duties. Upon receipt of After receiving the defendant's statement and of the written approval of the prosecuting attorney the required approvals, the clerk of the court or the court in which where the indictment, information, or complaint is pending shall transmit the papers in the proceeding or certified copies thereof send the file, or a certified copy, to the clerk of the court or court for the county in which the defendant is held or present and the prosecution continues in that county in the transferee county.
(b c ) Effect of Not Guilty Plea. If, the defendant pleads not guilty after the proceeding case has been transferred pursuant to subdivision under Rule 20(a), the defendant pleads not guilty, the clerk of court or the court shall return the papers documents to the court in which where the prosecution was commenced began, and the court must restore the proceeding must be restored to the its docket of that court. The defendant's statement of intention to plead guilty may not be used against that defendant without that defendant's consent is not, in any civil or criminal proceeding, admissible against the defendant.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Rule 20 was amended, effective March 1, 1990; ________________;
Rule 20 is an adaptation of Fed.R.Crim.P. 20. It permits a defendant, arrested, held, or present in a county other than that in which the indictment, information, or complaint is pending against the defendant, to state in writing that the defendant wishes to plead guilty, to waive trial in the county in which charges against the defendant are pending and to consent to disposition of the case in the county in which the defendant was arrested, is held, or is present, subject to the approval of the prosecuting attorney for each county. The Rule differs from existing practice in that it permits a defendant, charged in one county and held or present in another, to plead guilty in the county in which the defendant was found. This procedure may be used between counties in the state, and is not limited to those counties in the same judicial district. The Rule rule benefits the defendant in that it permits a speedy disposition of the defendant's case, if the defendant desires to plead guilty, without the hardship which may be involved in transferring the defendant back to the county in which the defendant was charged. This may be desirable for a defendant who is arrested or turns one's self in surrenders at or near the defendant's residence for a crime committed elsewhere in the State state. The benefit to the State state is the savings in transportation expenses. The requirement that the prosecuting attorneys of both counties must consent to this action by the defendant provides the necessary safeguards for the State state.
Rule 20 was amended, effective March 1, 1990. The amendments are technical in nature and no substantive change is intended.
Rule 20 was amended, effective ______________, in response to the December 1, 2002, revision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules.
Subdivision (a) differs from its Federal counterpart in that it includes the complaint as a charging document, thus eliminating the need for a subdivision similar to (b) of the Federal Rule.
Subdivision (b c) provides that a defendant is not obligated by the defendant's a request for a transfer under Subdivision Rule 20(a). If the defendant decides not to plead guilty, the defendant shall be tried thereafter in the county in which where the information was originally filed, on such information or on another information filed in term time, as the State's attorney may so elect. However, the written statement may not be used against the defendant without the defendant's prior consent.
The Advisory Committee's Notes to the original Federal Rule (18 USCA, Fed.R.Crim.P. 20 at page 127) say in part:
"This rule introduces a new procedure in the interest of defendants who intend to plead guilty and are arrested in a district other than that in which the prosecution has been instituted. This rule would accord to a defendant in such a situation an opportunity to secure a disposition of the case in the district where the arrest takes place, thereby relieving him of whatever hardship may be involved in a removal to the place where the prosecution is pending. In order to prevent the possible interference with the administration of justice, however, the consent of the United States attorneys involved is required."
SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of January 27-28, 2005, pages ___; April 20, 1989, page 4; December 3, 1987, page 15; December 7-8, 1978, pages 14-15; October 12-13, 1978, pages 8-9; October 17-20, 1972, pages 4-5; September 26-27, 1968, pages 8-9; 8 F.R.D. 338, 340-341;Fed.R.Crim.P. 20; Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure: Criminal, § 321-323 (1969); 8 Moore's Federal Practice, Chapter 20 (Cipes, 2d Ed. 1972); Barron, Federal Practice and Procedure: Criminal, § 2081 (1951); Goodman, Revolutionary Procedures in Criminal Actions, 1948.
STATUTES AFFECTED:
CONSIDERED: N.D.C.C. §§ 33-12-12, 33-12-13.