Municipal Courts of Battle Ground,
Ridgefield, and La Center
Table of Contents
Local Rules for the Municipal Courts of Battle Ground,
Ridgefield, and La Center, Washington
L CrRLJ 1.7
L CrRLJ 3.2.1
L CrRLJ 3.2.1
L CrRLJ 3.3
L CrRLJ 3.4
L CrRLJ 4.1
L CrRLJ 4.5
L CrRLJ 6.3
L IRLJ 1.3
L IRLJ 2.4
L IRLJ 2.6
L IRLJ 3.1
L IRLJ 3.3
L CrRLJ 1.7
(a) Pursuant to CrRLJ 1.7 and GR 7, the Local Rules of the
combined Municipal Courts for the City of Battle
Ground, Washington, and the towns of Ridgefield and La
Center, Washington, should be the Criminal Rules for
Courts of Limited Jurisdiction, together with any
amendments or changes thereto approved by the Supreme
Court of the State of Washington, and the Local Rules
set forth below.
(b) Where a conflict exists between the CrRLJ and these
Local Rules, the Local Rules shall be read so as to
conform to the CrRLJ as closely as possible, with the
intent of protecting the Constitutional rights of each
individual Defendant and the just and speedy
adjudications of the matter before the Court.
L CrRLJ 3.2.1
(a) ...The Court hereby designates the judges of the Clark
County Superior and District Courts to make the initial
probable cause determination for any Defendant held in
custody on a case filed in the Municipal Courts
effected by these rules, given the limited meeting
times of this Court.
L CrRLJ 3.2.1
(d)(1) The "next business day" of the Court is defined
for the purposes of this rule as the Thursday next
following the arrest and detention of the Defendant.
The preliminary appearance shall be combined with the
arraignment of the Defendant, given the limited number
of court days per month of these Courts.
L CrRLJ 3.3
(h) Continuances.
(3) Any requests for continuance, made orally in open
court or in writing by Defendant’s counsel or the
Defendant, shall require the Court to reinform the
Defendant of his or her speedy trial rights before
the motion is granted or denied. The Court shall
not grant a motion for continuance beyond the
Defendant’s originally calculated speedy trial
time, unless the Defendant (or Defendant’s
counsel, upon counsel’s representation that the
Defendant has been informed of his or her speedy
trial rights and has authorized counsel to waive
them) signs a Waiver of Speedy Trial upon a form
supplied by the Court. The Defendant or counsel
must understand, before signing the waiver, that
the Court will be waiving the Defendant’s speedy
trial rights to a date certain, upon which date
the applicable 60 day or 90 day period will begin
to run anew.
L CrRLJ 3.4
(a)(1) (present text)
(a)(2) An attorney licensed to practice law in the
State of Washington may file a Notice of
Appearance on behalf of a Defendant and waive the
Defendant’s presence at any hearing subsequent to
arraignment; however, all Defendants charged with
either Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol or
Drugs, Physical Control, or any crime designated
as a "domestic violence crime" are required to
personally appear at their arraignment.
L CrRLJ 4.1
(e) Arraignments will normally be held on the next court
day after the Defendant has been cited and released or,
if in custody, on the next court day after their
arrest. At arraignment, the Defendant will be provided
with a "Statement of Rights/Plea Form" and, if they are
requesting a court-appointed attorney, a "Financial
Declaration" form to fill out and present to the Judge
before entering a plea. The Court shall assure itself
that the Defendant understands his/her rights and the
charge(s) before taking a plea. If an interpreter is
necessary for the Defendant to understand their rights,
the Court may set over the arraignment until such
interpretation services can be secured. At the
arraignment, the Court shall set a pretrial hearing
date approximately one month later and a trial date
within the speedy trial time as determined by the
Court.
L CrRLJ 4.5
(a) (original text)
(b) At the first pretrial hearing, either party may make
pretrial motions, engage in settlement discussions,
request modifications to any previous orders, or
address any other issues between the parties.
( c) At the first or subsequent pretrial hearings, the Court
shall set a mandatory pretrial hearing at least two
weeks prior to the scheduled trial date. The
Defendant’s presence at the mandatory pretrial hearing
shall be required. At the mandatory pretrial hearing,
the Court shall determine whether both parties are
ready to proceed on the appointed trial date, make
appropriate orders in aid of an expeditious resolution
of the matter, and set a cut-off date for discovery and
subpoenaing witnesses, unless those dates have already
been set.
L CrRLJ 6.3
...Normally, the clerk will take the first eighteen names
from the Elections Division list that personally appear for
jury duty on the date set for trial. Should at least 18
qualified jurors fail to appear, the Court may either delay
the trial date, after assuring itself that no prejudice will
result to either party, or may go ahead with less than six
jurors upon the Defendant’s consent.
L IRLJ 1.3
These local rules are formulated pursuant to IRLJ 1.3 and
shall become effective upon filing with the Office of the
Administrator for the Courts, pursuant to GR7.
L IRLJ 2.4
(b)(4) In addition to the requirements of IRLJ 2.4(b)(4),
the Defendant should be instructed that submitting a
written statement will normally mean that they are
giving up their right to an in-person hearing and its
concomitant right to hear and question the plaintiff’s
witnesses, as well as giving up the right to have their
own witnesses come to Court and testify on their
behalf.
L IRLJ 2.6
(a)(1)
(iii) If the Defendant appears for a contested
hearing and requests that subpoenas be issued for
witnesses whom he/she was unable to obtain by
voluntary attendance and the prosecuting authority
would not be prejudiced, the Court may treat this
hearing as a pretrial hearing under IRLJ
2.6(a)(1)(i) & (ii) and reschedule the contested
hearing for a subsequent date.
L IRLJ 3.1
(a) A Defendant shall be informed of his or her right to
have witnesses subpoenaed to testify on their behalf
and, if not represented by a lawyer, that they should
submit their list of witnesses to the clerk of the
Court not later than 14 days prior to the scheduled
hearing date. The list of witnesses should include at
least the following:
(i) the witnesses’ true name;
(ii) the witnesses’ mailing or street address.
The Defendant should also be informed that the prosecuting
authority may waive the officer’s presence, unless the
Defendant requests it.
L IRLJ 3.3
(b) ...The prosecuting authority, if no witnesses have been
subpoenaed, may waive the presence of a lawyer on its behalf
and elect to proceed solely on the sworn statement of the
citing officer. If the Defendant wants the citing officer
available for cross-examination at the hearing, the
Defendant shall be required to request the officer’s
presence at the hearing in writing pursuant to L IRLJ
3.1(a), supra.
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