Erie Cnty. C.P. FinalProposedCriminalLocalRules (introduction)

Local Rules of Criminal Procedure

Erie County Court of Common Pleas

6th Judicial District of Pennsylvania

Revised: June 30, 2025____

TABLE OF CONTENTS

106 Continuances

117 Magisterial District Judge Coverage for Issuing Warrants; Accepting Complaints;

Preliminary Arraignments and Summary Trials; and Setting and Accepting Bail

310 Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition

570 Case Assignments

571 Arraignment

575 Procedure for Attorney Changes

576 Presentation, Filing, and Service of Motions

590 Post-Arraignment Pleas, Pleas, and Plea Agreements

600 Trial Term

700 Sentencing Judge

APPENDIX

1. Sample Motion for Continuance

2. Sample Application for ARD

3. Sample Application for Treatment Court

4. Sample Application for Veterans Court

5. Sample Waiver of Arraignment

6. Sample Substitution of Counsel

RULE 106 - CONTINUANCES

A deadline shall exist for the filing of continuances by either the Commonwealth or a defendant

for cases listed for a particular trial term. A motion for continuance shall be made not later than 48

hours before the first day of the trial term. Notice as to the first day of each trial term shall be

published by the court in its annual schedule. All requests for continuances must be made in

writing. A motion for continuance must include the following:

1) a complete list of all pending charges,

2) the date the criminal complaint was filed,

3) the number of previous continuances requested by the moving party,

4) an indication of whether the defendant is incarcerated at the time of the filing,

5) the reasons that a continuance is being requested,

6) the party to which the period of delay should be attributed,

7) when the parties agree that the period of delay should be attributed to the defendant, the

filing must include a signed waiver of speedy trial rights from the first day of the trial

term from which the case will be continued to the first day of the next available trial

term. (The “next available trial term” shall mean the second trial term from the date of

the request for continuance.); and

8) the position of the adverse party and any other parties in the case.

A sample motion for continuance is provided in the appendix which accompanies these local rules.

Any motions for continuance filed before the deadline shall be considered by the pre-assigned

judge. After the term commences, all motions for continuance must be considered by the judge

who will preside over the case at trial.

RULE 117 - MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT JUDGE COVERAGE FOR ISSUING

WARRANT; PRELIMINARY ARRAIGNMENTS AND SUMMARY TRIALS; AND

SETTING AND ACCEPTING BAIL

To the extent required by Pa.R.Crim.P. 117, Magisterial District Judges shall be available to

provide continuous coverage for the issuance of search warrants, the issuance of arrest warrants,

accepting complaints, setting and accepting bail, conducting summary trials, and conducting

preliminary arraignments. The provision of continuous coverage shall be by the traditional on-call

system as presently established and exercised in Erie County. Specifically, the Magisterial District

Judges shall remain on-call during non-regular business hours on a rotating basis. The Assistant

Court Administrator shall maintain a copy of said rotating schedule.

Magisterial District Judges, the Clerk of Courts and the Warden of the Erie County Prison shall be

authorized to accept bail pursuant to, and subject to the limitations of, the Pennsylvania Rules of

Criminal Procedure. The Warden’s authority is limited to accepting the bail deposit, delivering

the bail to the issuing authority or clerk of courts and, under Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal

Procedure 525 releasing the defendant upon execution of the bail bond.

Regular business hours for each Magisterial District Judge Office shall be Monday through Friday

from 8:30a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

RULE 310 – ACCELERATED REHABILITATION DISPOSITION

A. ARD. An original application for entry into the Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition

(ARD) program shall be filed with the Clerk of Courts, and copies shall be filed at the

Office of the Criminal Court Administrator and the Erie County District Attorney’s

Office or, where applicable, the Attorney General’s Office. The Criminal Court

Administrator shall mark the date of filing on the copy. The application shall include

language that waives Pa.R.Crim.P. 600. See, Local Rule 310(D). A sample application

for ARD is provided in the appendix which accompanies these local rules.

B. Effect on Filing Deadlines. The filing deadlines imposed by the Pennsylvania Rules of

Criminal Procedure shall be specially calculated in those instances where a defendant

applies for, is refused entry into, or is revoked from, the ARD program as follows: