D.P.R. Loc. Civ. R. 39

(a) Examination of Witnesses.

Upon oral motion by a party or on its own motion, the court may order, on the terms it

may prescribe, that a witness under examination in court shall not discuss the witness’s

testimony, including during any recess taken during the examination or before the witness is

finally excused.

(b) Exhibits.

(1) Custody and Marking. All exhibits shall be marked for identification prior to

trial in accordance with the final pretrial order. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, all

exhibits offered in evidence, whether admitted or not, shall be submitted in accordance with

the Jury Evidence Recording System (“JERS”) guidelines and shall be held in the

custody of the clerk during the pendency of the proceedings, except that exhibits which

because of their size or nature require special handling shall remain in the possession of the

party introducing them. Exhibits retained by counsel shall be preserved in the form in

which they were offered until the proceeding is finally concluded. A party who offers

valuable exhibits shall be responsible for their insurance and protection.

(2) Inspection and Copying of Exhibits. All inspections of exhibits of any type

shall be conducted in the presence of the courtroom deputy clerk. Inspections by attorneys

for the parties are not excepted from this rule, nor is application of this rule affected by

whether the inspection is being made with or without specific leave of court.

(A) Sensitive Exhibits. Any interested party may move the court to

designate evidence as sensitive or special. Evidence so designated

may not be inspected or copied, photographed or otherwise

reproduced without prior leave of the court. This type of evidence

includes, without limitation, trade secrets, confidential information,

narcotics, weapons, currency, exhibits of a pornographic nature,

articles of high monetary value, exhibits depicting or describing a

particularly violent crime, and any other evidence designated by

the court.

.

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(B) Sealed Exhibits. Exhibits ordered sealed or impounded by the

Court may not be inspected or copied by anyone, including

attorneys for the parties, except upon leave of the Court.

(C) Other Exhibits. Attorneys of record for any party may inspect or

copy all exhibits, other than those exhibits defined in (A) and (B)

above, without specific leave of Court.

(3) Return. Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, exhibits shall be withdrawn

by counsel who offered them within thirty (30) days after the parties have exhausted their

appeals before the court of appeals. Upon counsel's failure to remove any exhibit timely,

the clerk may, after due notice to counsel, dispose of them as necessary.

(c) Official Record.

The official record of court proceedings shall consist of the following:

(1) The official docket entries and documents related to them;

(2) Transcripts prepared by U.S. Court-employed or contracted court

reporters;

(3) Electronic sound recordings of court proceedings made by courtroom

deputy clerks using the For-the-Record (FTR) recording system; and

(4) Transcripts from FTR-recorded proceedings prepared by certified court

reporters employed by the district court or certified transcribers of FTR-recorded proceedings authorized by the district court.

Private transcriptions of FTR-recorded proceedings shall not constitute an

official record of the court.

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