Our bondage to law is the price we pay
for freedom.
Judge Robert T. Mann
PRACTICE STANDARDS
CRIMINAL ACTIONS
TO: Counsel and Parties
FROM: Judge Robert E. Blackburn, United States District Judge
RE: Practice Standards Criminal Actions
I. PURPOSE AND RELATION TO OTHER RULES
A. Purpose And Authority
1. Consistent with Fed. R. Crim. P. 2, these practice standards are
adopted to secure the just determination of every criminal proceeding. These
practice standards shall apply to all motions, petitions, applications, responses,
replies, objections, orders, and all other papers filed on or after December 1,
2025, and to all hearings and trials conducted on or after December 1, 2025.
They may be revised without notice and may be modified by orders entered in
specific cases.
2. These practice standards have the force and effect of the orders
of this court.
B. Relation To Local Rules
1. These practice standards supplement, not supplant or supersede, The
Local Rules of Practice of the United States District Court for the District of
Colorado - Criminal.
C. Access To Local Rules & Practice Standards
1. Copies of the local rules are available here or from the clerk in Room
A105.
2. Copies of these practice standards are available here or from the clerk
in Room A105.
1
II. GENERAL PROCEDURES
A. Applicable Rules
1. Those appearing in the District Court must know and follow:
a. The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure;
b. The Federal Rules of Evidence;
c. The Local Rules of Practice of the United States District Court
for the District of Colorado - Criminal;
d. The Electronic Case Filing Procedures; and
e. These practice standards.
2. Failure to comply with the foregoing rules or procedures or the practice
standards of this court may result in the imposition of appropriate sanctions,
including, but not limited to, striking noncomplying papers, punishing contempt of
court, vacating hearings or trials, or dismissing the case.
B. Communications with Chambers
1. Do not deliver, fax, or e-mail pleadings, motions, papers, or
correspondence directly to chambers absent a specific order. Instead, file all
such pleadings or documents via the CM/ECF system.
2. For information about the status of a motion or document, please utilize
the CM/ECF system, available here, or PACER, available here.
3. For other information or assistance, please contact the Judicial
Assistant of the court at 303-335-2350.
C. Citations
1. Citations shall be made pursuant to the most current edition of THE
BLUEBOOK: A UNIFORM SYSTEM OF CITATION.
2. General references to cases, pleadings, depositions, or documents are
insufficient if the paper or document is more than one page in length. Whenever
possible, specific references in the form of pinpoint citations shall be used to
identify relevant excerpts from cases, pleadings, depositions, or documents.
3. Whenever practicable, a citation to an unpublished opinion should
include its Westlaw® citation.
4. These practice standards should be cited as REB Cr. Practice
Standard, Part, Section, Subsection, Paragraph, Subparagraph, and Sub-
subparagraph (e.g., REB Cr. Practice Standard V.F.3.A.1.a.).
D. Typeface
2
1. All papers filed with the court by anyone other than a judicial officer
shall be in an Arial 12 point font (exclusive of footnotes and endnotes).
Noncomplying papers may be stricken.
E. Continuances of Hearings and Trials
1. Motions to continue (including motions to vacate or reset) hearings and
trials shall be determined pursuant to D.C.COLO.LCivR 6.1 and 7.1, and United
States v. West, 828 F.2d 1468, 1469-70 (10th Cir. 1987). Oral or written motions
to continue made at the time of the hearing or trial may not be entertained by the
court. Stipulations for continuance shall not be effective unless and until
approved by the court.
III. COURTROOM PROCEDURES
A. Recording of Proceedings
1. Transcripts of proceedings may be ordered from the realtime reporter
assigned to the court. Requests for realtime, daily, or hourly copy must be made
at least thirty (30) days before the trial or hearing. Further details can be
obtained from the court.
B. Exhibits
1. Each party must pre-mark all exhibits that will be used or identified for
the record in a hearing or trial. Whenever possible, each party must provide a
copy of each exhibit to opposing counsel or any pro se party before a hearing
and before a trial pursuant to the Trial Preparation Conference Order. Exhibits
not pre-marked or exchanged before a hearing or trial may not be admitted. Any
stipulation of fact should be marked and marshaled as an exhibit.
2. Marking of Exhibits:
a. Numerically for a single party plaintiff (i.e., the government),
petitioner, movant, or appellant: Government’s, Petitioner’s, Movant’s,
or Appellant’s exhibit 1, 2, 3, etc.;
b. Numerically for single or multiple party defendants, movants,
and appellees as follows: Defendant’s, Movant’s, or Appellee’s surname
exhibit 1, 2, 3, etc. (for example “Smith exhibit 57"); and
c. The case number shall appear on each exhibit sticker or label.
3
3. Exhibits must be bound, e.g., in three-ring notebooks or folders, and
the notebook or folder must be labeled with the following information: (i) caption,
(ii) nature of proceeding, (iii) scheduled date and time, (iv) party's name and
designation, and (v) “original” or “copy.” If exhibits are not bound and labeled
properly, the hearing or trial may be delayed or continued until they are.
4. Number of Sets of Exhibits
a. For hearings, separate sets of bound exhibits must be brought
to the hearing for the court and the witness stand, and for represented
parties, two (2) USB drives per party containing all exhibits must be
provided to the courtroom deputy clerk.
b. For trials, the Trial Preparation Conference Order will specify
the number of sets of exhibits.
C. Witness & Exhibit Lists
1. Each party shall submit the Witness List and Exhibit List preferred by
the court (forms are available here), to the courtroom deputy clerk before any
hearing or trial or as provided in the order setting the hearing or the Trial
Preparation Conference Order.
D. Glossary
1. Not later than five (5) business days before commencement of a
hearing, a bench trial, a jury trial, or any other proceeding, counsel and any pro
se party shall file and provide the court, the court reporter, the courtroom deputy
clerk, opposing counsel, and any pro se party with a glossary of any difficult,
unusual, scientific, technical, and/or medical jargon, words, names, terms and/or
phrases.
IV. MOTION PRACTICE
A. Motions In Limine and Trial Briefs
1. Motions in limine are strongly discouraged, a fortiori, when the motion
is evidence driven and cannot be resolved until evidence is presented at trial. In
the extremely limited circumstances in which a motion in limine is necessary, it
shall be filed and determined in the time and manner prescribed by
D.C.COLO.LCivR 7.1(d), and REB Civ. Practice Standard IV.B.1.
2. Trial briefs are encouraged. Trial briefs shall not exceed ten (10)
pages and shall be filed not later than five (5) business days before trial.
Please flag evidentiary issues in a trial brief rather than by motion in limine.
4
However, a trial brief may not be used as a spurious, belated substitute for a
motion that must be filed as a motion.
V. TRIALS
A. Jury Trials
1. Jury trials will begin with jury selection at the time specified in the Trial
Preparation Conference Order, with the trial commencing after jury selection.
Commencing the second day of trial, the trial day will be from 8:30 a.m., to 5:00
p.m., with noon, mid-morning, and mid-afternoon recesses.
2. Unless ordered otherwise, jurors and alternate jurors shall be selected
using the Jury Selection Protocol of the court that is available in the clerk’s
office or online here.
3. Not less than five (5) business days before trial, the parties shall file
the voir dire questions they propose to propound to the venire.
4. Batson challenges [see Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986)]
shall be made and considered at the conclusion of voir dire examination, but
before the jury is seated and sworn.
5. Jury Instructions
a. Whenever practicable, the parties shall use or adapt for use the
Criminal Pattern Jury Instructions prepared by the Criminal Pattern Jury
Instruction Committee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth
Circuit. The pattern instructions and updates may be found online here.
b. Counsel and any pro se party shall confer well in advance of
trial, and not less than five (5) business days before trial, shall file on
CM/ECF and submit by electronic mail to
[email protected] those jury instructions and
verdict forms that the parties stipulate should be given to the jury.
Otherwise, concerning special or disputed instructions or disputed verdict
forms, not less than five (5) business days before trial, each party shall
(i) file in CM/ECF and (ii) submit any special or disputed instruction or
disputed verdict form as provided below in Subsections c, d, and e.
c. Proposed instructions and verdict forms shall be filed in
CM/ECF and submitted by e-mail to
[email protected]. Instructions and verdict
forms submitted by e-mail must be tendered in preferably Word, using an
5
Arial 12 point font, double-spaced.
d. Each instruction and verdict form submitted to chambers
via e-mail must be in a separate document or file, so that the court
can view each separate instruction and verdict form as a single
document, as opposed to one of several instructions and/or verdict
forms combined in a single document or file .
e. Tendered instructions and verdict forms must be submitted as
attachments to one or more e-mails as technology permits. The
attachments must organized into three groups: (1) Stipulated instructions;
(2) Competing instructions; and (3) Non-stipulated instructions. When
submitting proposed instructions and verdict forms, the instructions and
verdict forms must be attached to one or more e-mails in the form and
order specified below:
1. Stipulated – The file name and name for each stipulated
instruction and verdict form must include a clear indication that the
instruction or verdict form is stipulated, and a numerical
designation. A name such as “Stip 01" is sufficient as the name for
an individual instruction or verdict form. All stipulated instructions
and verdict forms must appear as a first group of attachments in the
e-mail, and the e-mail must clearly indicate the group of
attachments that contains all stipulated instructions and verdict
forms.
2. Competing – A competing instruction or verdict form is
an instruction or verdict form addressing an issue about which the
parties agree an instruction or verdict form is necessary, but
disagree about its wording. Competing instructions must
address the same issue and be designated using the same
number, i.e., Comp G 01 and Comp D 01 must address the
same issue. The file name and name for each competing
instruction and verdict form must include a clear indication that the
instruction or verdict form is competing, a designation of the party
tendering the instruction, and a numerical designation. A name
such as “Comp G 01" or “Comp D 01" is sufficient as the name for
an individual instruction or verdict form. All competing instructions
and verdict forms must appear as a second group of attachments in
the e-mail, and the e-mail must clearly indicate the group of
attachments that contains all competing instructions and verdict
forms.
3. Non-stipulated – Non-stipulated instructions and verdict
forms are those requested by an individual party to which any other
6
party objects, but does not tender a competing instruction or verdict
form. The file name and name for each non-stipulated instruction
and verdict form must include a clear indication that the instruction
or verdict form is non-stipulated, a designation of the party
tendering the instruction, and a numerical designation. A name
such as “Non-stip G 01" or “Non-stip D 01" is sufficient as the name
for an individual instruction or verdict form. All non-stipulated
instructions and verdict forms must appear as a third group of
attachments in the e-mail, and the e-mail must clearly indicate the
group of attachments that contains all non-stipulated instructions
and verdict forms.
f. Not less than five (5) business days before trial, each party
shall file a brief or memorandum addressing – either in support of or
opposition to – the proposed instructions and verdict forms that are
competing or non-stipulated.
g. At the jury instruction conference (charging conference)
after the close of evidence, or any prior jury instruction conference,
the court, in its discretion, may consider only those instructions and
verdict forms managed in conformity with the foregoing sections or
that address unanticipated matters raised during trial.
6. Jurors will be permitted to take notes during the trial.
7. The jury will be instructed before closing argument.
8. Each juror will be given copies of the written jury instructions and
verdict forms for use and consideration during deliberations.
VI. PLEA AGREEMENTS
A. Treatment Of Notice Of Disposition
1. A notice of disposition filed pursuant to D.C.COLO.LCrR 11.1(a), shall
be considered to be a delay resulting from consideration by the court of a
proposed plea agreement within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(G) for
the purpose of computing time under the Speedy Trial Act of 1974, 18 U.S.C.
§ 3161. A defendant contesting this characterization shall state his objection in
the notice of disposition or shall be deemed to have forfeited the objection.
7
