Hood Posted November 23 Share Posted November 23 (edited) Hello everyone, We (Legal Faction Management) have been looking at the court cases within the server and noticed a few things. While we appreciate the effort and realism our players (especially JSA and DAO faction members) bring to the legal roleplay scene, we’ve noticed that the length and complexity of court cases have often become more similar to real-life legal proceedings rather than a regular, enjoyable aspect of a game. Players are often 'stuck' with their character due to the lengthy court cases they are in and the server rules prevent them from NC'ing of CK'ing the character. After numerous meetings and discussions with the leadership of the District Attorney’s Office (DAO) and the Judiciary of San Andreas (JSA), we’ve worked together to come up with some changes to make the court experience better for everyone that will be implemented on 24/NOV/2024. CHANGES Lawyers may not use any cases as references except for SCOTUS cases and server cases. Circuit court is also removed unless listed in a thread which allows them. a. Exception is if the case can be briefed by the lawyer in 100 words or less. b. The lawyer must link the source of said case law. c. The lawyer risks a faction strike or removal if they maliciously manipulate the brief. Lawyers may not submit more than 1 pre-trial motion. Lawyers may not submit more than 3 motions in total per case. a. Exceptions are only granted by the judge but only 2 extra motions per side may be allowed. Motions to recuse are prohibited as they delay cases. Motions to reconsider are prohibited as they delay cases considerably and force a judge to respond with a reasoning. Motions may not surpass 500 words. Regarding Case Length:- A judge is forced to issue a judgement if a case surpasses 21 days since the first post. a. An exception is given by JSA leadership only. Summary Judgement is to be given in cases where guilt is clear. In cases where the defendant feels as though important elements were missing leading to the summary judgement being issued, external review may and should be requested via a ticket in the JSA discord. Regarding Appeals:- Lawyers may not surpass 500 words on appeal. Lawyers may not mention any superior court cases as implied ‘precedent’. Facts of a case may never be disputed in an appeals court. Lower court findings are facts and appeals should only address constitutional/legal matters. a. Exception is to be granted by JSA leadership only. IMPORTANT TO READ These changes only apply to Criminal Court, Traffic Court will remain with the same old rules. We would also like to let all of you know the the old rules still apply to any court cases that are still on-going at the moment. This is so everything stays fair and no one gets confused with the new rules. The last important thing to know is that we will temporarily disable the ''Not Guilty" plea to give DAO and JSA a little extra time before getting on all the new cases. This is just a temporary thing while we get everything sorted out and set-up under these new changes! Note that while we appreciate opinions and ideas, this is final. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Legal Faction Management in the LFM discord through the #questions-and-answers channel. Edited November 23 by Hood 24 1 3 Link to comment
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