Pretrial hearing and conference; time; purposes; memorandum of
matters agreed upon; use of admission
Sec. 3. (a) A pretrial hearing and pretrial conference, if one is
necessary, may be held on the omnibus date or any other date that the
court designates prior to the commencement of trial. The purpose of
the pretrial hearing is to:
(1) consolidate hearings on pretrial motions and other requests
to the maximum extent practicable;
(2) rule on the motions and requests and ascertain whether the
case will be disposed of by guilty plea, jury trial, or bench trial;
and
(3) make any other orders appropriate under the circumstances
to expedite the proceedings.
(b) At the time of the pretrial hearing as provided under this
section, or at any other time after the filing of the indictment or
information and before the commencement of trial, the court, upon
motion of any party or upon its own motion, may order conferences
to consider any matters that will promote a fair and expeditious trial.
The purpose of such a conference shall be to consider any matters
related to the disposition of the proceedings, including the
simplification of the issues to be tried and the possibility of obtaining
admissions of fact and of documents which will avoid unnecessary
proof.
(c) At the conclusion of the conference the court shall prepare and
file a memorandum of the matters agreed upon. Any admission made
by the defendant or his attorney at the conference may not be used
against the defendant unless the admission is reduced to writing and
signed by the defendant and his attorney.
As added by Acts 1981, P.L.298, SEC.5.
Last modified: May 24, 2006