CONTACT: Joan Kenney/Bruce Brock
617/557-1114
joan.kenney@sjc.state.ma.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
September 30, 2003

 

SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT TO HOLD HEARING ON RULES OF
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE


Boston— The Supreme Judicial Court today announced that it has scheduled a hearing on proposed amendments to draft Rules of Criminal Procedure 3, 12, and 14. In July, the Court invited written comment on a 155-page package of proposed revisions to Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure 1, 3, 3.1 , 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 34 prepared by the Supreme Judicial Court's Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure. The deadline for written comments was September 15, 2003.

          The hearing will be held in the Supreme Judicial Court courtroom, 13th floor, Suffolk County Courthouse on Tuesday, October 21, 2003 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. The schedule of speakers is as follows:

          A. Introductory remarks by Superior Court Justice Charles J. Hely, Chair of the Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure

          B. Rule 14 on Discovery (60 minutes)

          1) Andrew H. Good, Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (20 minutes)
          2) District Attorney Martha Coakley, District Attorneys' Association, and a designee of the Attorney General (20 minutes)
          3) Professor Eric Blumenson, Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure (20 minutes)

          C. Rules 3 (Complaint and Indictment) and 12 (Pleas and Withdrawal of Pleas) (27 minutes)

          1) William J. Leahy, Committee for Public Counsel Services (9 minutes)
          2) Designees of the Attorney General and District Attorneys' Association (9 minutes)
          3) Professor David Rossman, Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure (9 minutes)