2.1 Once Counsel has appeared or been appointed in a case, it shall be presumed that Counsel is seeking those items discoverable under the applicable statutes of North Carolina and federal case law. No formal request for discovery under N.C.G.S. 15A-902 need to be made; the provisions of this rule regarding discovery shall be deemed an order of the Court in each case. Provision of discovery by the State acts as an automatic request for reciprocal discovery from the defendant. The court, after motion by the State or Defendant or on its own motion, may act as the interests of justice require to remedy a failure to provide discovery, reciprocal discovery, or continuing discovery as provided by law or anticipated by these rules.2.2 No later than four weeks after indictment, photocopies of discovery in each file shall be provided by the District Attorney to the attorney of record entering a general appearance in a case. Discovery shall be provided to the then-current attorney of record.2.3 Reciprocal discovery shall be provided by defense counsel to the State within three weeks of the State providing defense counsel with discovery as provided in Rule 2.2.2.4 It shall be the responsibility of a newly retained or appointed attorney immediately to notify the State of the fact of representation of the defendant. Should a change in defense counsel occur, it is the joint responsibility of both new and previous counsel to ensure that the photocopied discovery material is transferred from previous counsel of record to the new counsel of record. Upon request of new counsel, the State shall assist new counsel in confirming that he / she has received complete discovery from previous defense counsel. Any discovery material provided to a previous counsel of record is presumed by these rules to have been provided to any new or subsequent attorney of record.2.5 The prosecutor assigned to a case shall be responsible for completing a "Discovery Disclosure Certificate (DDC)" for that case. A completed and signed Discovery Disclosure Certificate shall accompany the photocopied discovery and shall be served upon the Defense Attorney of record in one of the following ways: (a) personal delivery, (b) U.S. postal delivery, (c) delivery to the office of the defense attorney of record, or (d) by depositing the discovery material into the attorney's mailbox located in the office of the Clerk of Superior Court. A completed and signed DDC also shall be filed with the Clerk of Superior Court for placement in the Court file. 2.6 All discovery motions filed by the defense counsel shall contain one of the following certification provisions and shall be signed by the Movant: I, the undersigned attorney of record, do hereby certify to the court that prior to the filing of this motion I have thoroughly reviewed the discovery material supplied to me in this case by the office of the District Attorney. The discovery material requested has not previously been provided to a counsel of record in this case.
_______________
Signature of Movant
_______
Date
I, the undersigned attorney of record, do hereby certify to the court that, as of this date more than four weeks have passed from the date of Indictment in this case and that the District Attorney's Office has not provided any discovery material in this case, as required by Rule 2.2, Criminal Case Docket management plan for Criminal Superior Court.
_______________
Signature of Movant
________
Date
2.7 All discovery motions filed by the District Attorney shall contain one of the following certification provisions and shall be signed by the Movant: I, the undersigned Prosecutor of record, do hereby certify to the court that prior to filing of this motion I have thoroughly reviewed the discovery material supplied to me in this case by the defense counsel. The discovery material requested has not previously been provided to the State in this case.
________________
Signature of Movant
_______
Date
I, the undersigned Prosecutor do hereby certify to the Court, that as of this date more than three weeks have passed from the date that the State provided discovery to the defendant in this case, and that defense counsel has failed to provide the State with any discovery material in this case.
_______________
Signature of Movant
_____
Date
N.C. R. Prac. Sup. & Dist. Ct. Civ. P. 2
Amended effective 8/15/2022.