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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

Northern District of Texas

David C. Godbey, Chief Judge
Karen Mitchell, Clerk of Court

NDTX Standard Protocol for Discovery Production in Federal Criminal Cases

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A joint working group consisting of NDTX representatives for the United States Attorney’s Office, the Federal Defender’s Office, and the United States District Court has prepared the following standard protocol to encourage best practices for the production and management of post-indictment discovery between the government and defendants charged in NDTX federal criminal cases. This protocol is intended to be consistent with the 2012 Recommendations for Electronically Stored Information Discovery Production in Federal Criminal Cases (ESI Protocol) promulgated by the Department of Justice and Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts Joint Working Group on Electronic Technology in the Criminal Justice System (JETWG) nationally, which should be referenced for more specific production issues not addressed here. Any perceived conflict between this protocol and the ESI protocol is unintentional. Further, this protocol is not intended to delay times for producing discovery set forth by a Court order in a particular case. The goal of this protocol is to benefit all parties by setting out uniform standards and a predictable framework for discovery productions from the government and defense to promote efficient and cost-effective discovery, set reasonable expectations for the parties, and reduce unnecessary discovery disputes and Court intervention.

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