Rule 7.031 - ASSIGNMENT OF CRIMINAL CASESThis procedure only applies to criminal cases and appeals of crimes from Limited Jurisdiction (Municipal and Justice) Courts.
(1) At the time a case is at issue and assigned a trial date, the case will also be given a case assignment date. The case assignment date shall be the Friday immediately preceding the trial date. If that Friday is a legal holiday, then case assignment shall be the Thursday immediately preceding the week of the trial. The case assignment docket shall begin at 9:00 A.M. and all required individuals must have checked in by that time. All attorneys or their representatives and defendants in criminal matters shall attend case assignment.(2) At case assignment, the cases not dismissed will be assigned to a trial judge on the original day scheduled for the trial, assigned to a trial judge a day later in the same week as the original trial date, called back on the original trial date or reset. Failure to attend by a defendant in a criminal matter will result in a bench warrant being issued. Attorneys or their representatives need to be prepared to schedule their cases if the matter is reset. All known scheduling conflicts must be brought to the attention of the case assignment judge when a case is reset to avoid trial conflicts. SLR 6.031(7) shall apply to matters reset out of case assignment.(3) At case assignment, you should be prepared to respond to the following questions: (a) Actual length expected for trial;(b) Court trial or jury trial;(c) Could any motions filed resolve the case or change the type or length of the trial;(d) Can your case be carried to another day later in the same week?(4) Case assignment is not the time to resolve discovery issues or to deal with trial resets unless the reason for the reset request just became known. All other reset requests shall be filed in advance of case assignment by the procedure set in SLR 6.031.(5) As soon as the case is assigned to a particular trial judge at case assignment, parties shall orally advise the case assignment judge of the intent to file any affidavit of prejudice and follow with a written motion, affidavit, and order filed in the Calendaring Office by close of business on the next judicial day following case assignment or the motion(s) will be denied as untimely. See ORS 14.270. (a) A party is not deemed to waive the statutory right to file a motion by appearing in front of a judge for the following appearances: arraignment, pre-trial release request at the time of arraignment, pre-trial conference, case assignment or callback.(b) A bench copy of the motion, affidavit, and order shall be delivered to the chambers of the challenged judge or, if not practicable, to the Calendaring Office for delivery to the challenged judge simultaneous with filing the originals.(6) If a case is reported settled or a plea date and time is obtained prior to 4:30 PM the day before case assignment, no one will need to appear at case assignment. If the matter is going to be reset out of case assignment, the parties must wait at case assignment until the reset date is given on the record.Amended effective 2/1/2024.