P.R. Laws tit. 25, § 2614
(a) At any time after charges have been signed, as provided in § 2551 of this title, any party may take oral or written depositions unless the law officer or court-martial without a law officer presiding over the hearing of the case, or if the case is not being tried, the authority competent to convene a court-martial for the trial of those charges forbids it for good cause. If a deposition is to be taken before charges are referred to trial, such authority may designate commissioned officers to represent the prosecution and the defense and may authorize those officers to take depositions of any witness.
(b) The party at whose instance a deposition is to be taken shall give to every other party reasonable written notice of the time and place for taking the deposition.
(c) Depositions may be taken before and authenticated by any military or civil officer authorized by the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to administer oaths.
(d) A deposition thus taken and authenticated admissible under the rules of evidence applicable in the courts of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico may be read in evidence before any court-martial or court of inquiry, if it appears:
(1) That the witness resides or is beyond the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or beyond the distance of one hundred (100) miles from the place of trial or hearing; or
(2) that the witness by reason of death, age, sickness, bodily infirmity, imprisonment, military necessity or other reasonable cause, is unable or refuses to appear and testify in person at the place of trial or hearing, or
(3) that the present whereabouts of the witness is unknown.
History —June 23, 1969, No. 62, p. 117, § 1013, eff. 90 days after June 23, 1969.