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CRIMINAL RULE NO. 3

Assignment of Cases

New cases shall be randomly assigned by the Clerk of the District Court, except for domestic violence cases, and any special categories of misdemeanor cases assigned to specialty courts.

Domestic violence cases shall be assigned to the District Court Judge who has the responsibility for the Domestic Violence Docket, except for sexual abuse and homicide cases which shall be randomly assigned.

Cases involving allegations of domestic violence will be designated as Domestic Violence cases. "Domestic Violence" is any harmful physical contact, threat of harmful contact, harassment or destruction of property between associated individuals or formerly associated individuals used as a method of coercion, control, revenge, or punishment which includes:

1. Spouses, whether residing together or not;
2. Former spouses, whether residing together or not;
3. Persons who are involved in ongoing, intimate relationships with each other, regardless of whether they currently live together or have done so in the past;
4. Persons who have in the past had an ongoing, intimate relationship with each other, regardless of whether they lived together or not;
5. Persons, eighteen years of age or older who are blood or step-related to one another (e.g., father/daughter, step-son/step-father, brother/sister, etc.).

At the call of the first appearance, court assignment of each case shall be announced, and each case shall be set down for a second appearance or other proceedings in the assigned court.