The Ohio Supreme Court will accept public comment until Nov. 22 on amendments to the annual update to the Rules of Practice and Procedure, including those concerning grand juries.

Amendments to Criminal Rule 6 would outline what constitutes a grand jury’s “record,” who may have access to that record, establish a process to access records when a grand jury fails to indict, and the standards a petitioner must meet to obtain the “no-bill” records.

The changes were recommended by the Task Force to Examine Improvements to the Ohio Grand Jury System, which was established to improve the public’s trust and confidence in grand juries.

Other proposed amendments to Civil Rules 3, 5, and 11 would allow for attorneys to more easily remove themselves from cases after agreeing to serve as counsel only for a specific portion of a case.

The annual rules update also includes proposed amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules of Juvenile Procedure, and Rules of Evidence.

According to the Ohio Constitution, proposed amendments to rules of procedure must be filed with the General Assembly by Jan. 15, 2018 in order for the amendments to take effect on July 1, 2018. Typically, the Court publishes the amendments for two rounds of public comment.

Publication of these proposed amendments for public comment at this time does not imply that the Supreme Court endorses or will approve for filing with the General Assembly any or all of the proposed amendments.

Public comment should be submitted in writing or via email by Nov. 22 to:

Jess Mosser, Policy Counsel
Ohio Supreme Court
65 S. Front St., 7th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
or
Jesse.Mosser@sc.ohio.gov.

PDF files may be viewed, printed, and searched using the free Acrobat^® Reader
Acrobat Reader is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.