Queen Anne's Cnty. Cir. Ct. Criminal DCM Plan V

A. GENERALLY

A party who desires a change of the time of any trial, hearing or conference shall

immediately obtain several possible alternate times from the Assignment Commissioner and,

within 5 days thereafter:

(1) Attempt to secure the agreement of all other parties to one of those alternate times;

and

(2) File with the Clerk a written request for change to one of those alternate times.

On its own initiative, or if all parties are not agreed, the county administrative judge or

his designee may act upon the request ex parte or submit the matter to conference under Md.

Rule 2-504.1(b). Whether or not the parties have discussed and/or agreed upon an alternate date,

any existing Notice of Trial, Scheduling Order or Pretrial Order remains in full effect until the

change has been approved in writing by the administrative judge or his designee. If a change of

date is approved, all instructions or provisions of the original Notice or Order so modified remain

fully applicable to the new date.

In considering all postponement or continuance requests, the court shall carefully apply

all relevant sections of the Maryland Annotated Code and the Maryland Rules of Procedure,

review possible effects of a postponement or continuance on the parties and witnesses in the

case, and evaluate future scheduling issues. The court shall also consider Maryland Circuit

Court Time Standards for processing cases.

B. CRIMINAL CAUSES

The Circuit Court for Queen Anne’s County has a strict postponement policy requiring

that a case may be postponed only for good cause shown on a case by case basis consistent with

the policy of this Court, other than as addressed in (2) below. Counsel is required to ascertain

their availability and the availability of witnesses. All trial dates will be considered firm unless

the court is informed of a conflict within five days of receipt of the notice. An action will not be

removed from the trial calendar except as approved by the Court.