(a) The charging documents, including the complaint, information, indictment, and
superseding indictment, shall be filed either in the traditional manner in paper or as a
scanned document that contains an image of any legally required signature. All
subsequent documents shall be filed electronically except as provided in these Rules or
as ordered by the Court.
(b) Subject to restrictions that the Court may impose, a person may review all filings at the
Clerk’s office that have not been sealed.
(c) Consequences of Electronic Filing. Electronic transmission of a document to the ECF
system, together with transmission of a Notice of Electronic Filing from the Court,
constitutes filing of the document for all purposes under the Federal Rules of Criminal
Procedure and the Local Rules of this Court and constitutes entry of the document on
the docket kept by the Clerk under Fed. R. Crim. P. 49 and 55. When a document is
filed electronically, the official record is the electronic recording of the document as
stored by the Court, and the filing party is bound by the document as filed unless relief
is granted under subsection (f) of S.D. Ohio Civ. R. 5.1.
(d) All orders, decrees, judgments and proceedings of the Court filed in accordance with
these Rules using the ECF system will constitute entry on the docket kept by the Clerk
under Fed. R. Crim. P. 49 and 55.
(e) Related Cases. It is the personal responsibility of the United States Attorney or
Assistant United States Attorney to identify related cases on the “Defendant
Information Relative to a Criminal Action” form (Form AO 257) or other form
provided by the Clerk’s Office. For purposes of this Rule, cases may be deemed related
by the Court if they appear to arise from the same or a substantially identical
transactions, happenings, or events, including any alleged conspiracy. This Rule is
intended to provide for the orderly division of the business of the Court and does not
grant any right to any litigant.
12.4.1 Disclosure Statements and Disqualification Requests
(a) No filing is required of individuals who are criminal defendants. Corporate defendants
in criminal cases shall file statements as provided in Fed. R. Crim. P. 12.4. If such a
filing occurs before all facts have been fully investigated, the disclosure statement shall
be expressly noted as potentially incomplete. Counsel shall promptly thereafter
investigate and supplement an incomplete disclosure statement.
(b) Disqualification. In addition to addressing corporate disclosures, all counsel are
directed to consider at the earliest opportunity whether there may be any reason for a
Judge of this Court to disqualify himself or herself pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 144 or §
455 and to advise the Court in writing as early as possible in the case about any such
concerns.
III. PROBATION AND SENTENCING
