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Rule 570 – Pretrial Conference

May 14, 2021 | Criminal Procedure, Pennsylvania

(A) At any time after the filing of an information, upon motion, or upon its own motion, the court may order the attorney for the Commonwealth and the defense attorney or the pro se defendant to appear before it for a conference in open court, unless agreed by the defendant to be in chambers, to consider:

(1) the terms and procedures for pretrial discovery and inspection;
(2) the simplification or stipulation of factual issues, including admissibility of evidence;
(3) the qualification of exhibits as evidence to avoid unnecessary delay;
(4) the number of witnesses who are to give testimony of a cumulative nature;
(5) the defenses of alibi and insanity, as to which appropriate rulings may be made; and
(6) such other matters as may aid in the disposition of the proceeding.
(B) The parties shall have the right to record an objection to rulings of the court during the conference.
(C) The court shall place on the record the agreements or objections made by the parties and rulings made by the court as to any of the matters considered in the pretrial conference. Such order shall control the subsequent proceedings unless modified at trial to prevent injustice.

234 Pa. Code ยง 570

Committee Explanatory Reports:

Report explaining the August 12, 1993 amendments published at 22 Pa.B. 3826 (July 25, 1992) .

Final Report explaining the March 1, 2000 reorganization and renumbering of the rules published with the Court’s Order at 30 Pa.B. 1478 (March 18, 2000) .

Final Report explaining July 31, 2012 Comment revision cross-referencing proposed new Rule 595 concerning requests for transfer from criminal proceedings to juvenile proceedings published with the Court’s Order at 42 Pa.B. 5340 (August 18, 2012) .