TITLE ONE — GENERAL PROVISIONS
Rule 103. Rulings on Evidence, Objections, and Offers of Proof
Preserving a Claim of Error. A party may claim error in a ruling to admit or exclude evidence only if the error injuriously affects a substantial right of the party and,
if the ruling excludes evidence, a party informs the court of its substance by an offer of proof, unless the substance was apparent from the context.
Preliminary Evidentiary Motions: Effect on Appellate Rights. Where a party fails to object to the admission of evidence at trial, the party’s appellate rights with respect to the admission of that evidence are preserved only if the party raised the same specific objection to the very same evidence in a motion in limine, and the motion was heard and denied.
Court’s Statement About the Ruling; Directing an Offer of Proof. The court may make any statement about the character or form of the evidence, the objection made, and the ruling. The court may direct that an offer of proof be made in question-and-answer form.
Preventing the Hearing of Inadmissible Evidence. To the extent practicable, the court must conduct a trial so that inadmissible evidence is not suggested to a jury or witnesses by any means.
Substantial Risk of a Miscarriage of Justice. In criminal cases, a court is required to consider an unpreserved error to determine whether there has been a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice.
Motions in Limine. Where the issue can reasonably be anticipated, a motion in limine should be filed prior to trial.
Time. A motion in limine shall be filed within the period allowed for pre-trial proceedings, being one hundred sixty-eight (168) hours in a civil case under Rid. R. Civ. P. 6(1) and seventy-two (72) hours in a criminal case under Rid. R. Crim. P. 46(1), unless the court for cause shown allows a later filing or the ground could not reasonably have been anticipated within that period.
Contents. The motion shall identify the evidence with particularity, state the specific ground of exclusion or admission, and state the relief sought.
Ruling. The court shall state whether its ruling is definitive or provisional. A provisional ruling does not satisfy Rule 103(2), and a party against whom evidence is offered after a provisional ruling shall object when the evidence is offered.
Exclusion as Sanction. Although the court should impose the least severe sanction necessary to remedy the prejudice to the innocent party, nothing in this section precludes a court from excluding evidence as a sanction for a violation of a discovery rule, order, or other obligation imposed on a party in a civil or criminal case.
Time of an Objection. An objection is timely if it is made:
before the witness answers, where the ground is apparent from the question;
immediately upon the answer, by objection and motion to strike, where the ground appears only from the answer;
when an exhibit is offered, where the ground is apparent from the exhibit as offered, and otherwise when the ground appears;
no later than the conclusion of the opponent’s opening statement or closing argument, as Rule 1107(3) provides; and
within any period the court fixes under Rule 103(8)(f); and
Periods Fixed by the Court. Because argument and testimony are conducted in proceeding communications, the court may fix, and state in the proceeding communications, a period in minutes within which an objection to a question, an answer, or an exhibit must be stated. A period so fixed runs continuously from the moment the matter objected to appears in the proceeding communications, and no period is extended by reason of the hour, the day of the week, or a holiday.
An objection made after the evidence has been received and after the moment at which the ground appeared is untimely, and the claim of error is preserved only as Rule 103(2) or Rule 103(5) provides.
Form of an Objection. An objection shall be stated in the proceeding communications of the case, shall begin with the word “Objection,” and shall state the specific ground concisely. A party shall not argue or further discuss the ground unless the court calls upon the party for argument or discussion. An exception to a ruling or order of the court is unnecessary; it is sufficient that a party makes known to the court, at the time the ruling is made or sought, the action the party desires or the party’s objection. Where a party has no opportunity to object to a ruling or order, the absence of an objection does not thereafter prejudice the party.
Continuing Objection. On request, the court may grant a continuing objection to a line of testimony, to a class of evidence, or to the evidence of a designated witness.
The court shall state on the record the ground, the scope, and the duration of the continuing objection.
Within the scope so stated, the objection preserves a claim of error as to each item of evidence received, and the objecting party need not object again.
A continuing objection does not extend to a ground not stated, to evidence outside the scope stated, or to a later stage of the proceeding after the court has declared the objection at an end.
The court may on its own or on motion revoke a continuing objection, stating its reason, whereupon a party shall object as Rule 103(8) provides.
Objection to Evidence Offered in a Filed Paper. Where an affidavit, declaration, deposition excerpt, exhibit, or other evidentiary material is offered in support of or in opposition to a motion, a party objecting to its admissibility shall state the objection and the specific ground in the party’s responsive filing, or, where no responsive filing is allowed, in the proceeding communications before the court rules. The court may rule upon the objection in its order upon the motion, and shall state the ruling. A filing may not be amended or withdrawn; a party who wishes to correct or supersede evidentiary material already filed shall do so by a corrected filing, which bears its own filing date.
Motion to Strike. A motion to strike shall identify the matter to be stricken and the ground. Where the court strikes matter received in the presence of a jury, the court shall instruct the jury to disregard it. Where the court strikes matter in a proceeding in which no jury sits, the court shall state on the record that the matter is stricken and is not considered. Matter stricken remains in the log of the proceeding communications, which is not altered; the entry striking it governs its use.
Making an Offer of Proof. An offer of proof may be made:
by counsel’s statement, on the record, of the substance of the excluded evidence, the purpose for which it is offered, and the ground of its admissibility;
by examination of the witness in question-and-answer form, outside the hearing of a jury and of any witness who has not testified, where the court so directs under Rule 103(3);
as to a document, recording, capture, log, or in-game record, by filing the item through the electronic filing system as an exhibit marked for identification and not admitted, and by identifying it on the record by its designation and the Bates number of the filing; or
as to an item that cannot be transmitted through the electronic filing system because a single document may not exceed fifty (50) megabytes, by presenting the item in the proceeding communications, by filing a capture or description of it sufficient to identify it, and by the court’s statement on the record of the fact and manner of its presentation. An offer of proof shall be made outside the hearing of a jury.
Sidebar and In Camera Proceedings. The court may hear a matter outside the hearing of a witness, of a jury, or of the public.
Manner. The court shall direct the manner of such a hearing, which may be conducted in a separate channel designated by the court, by communication directed to the court, or by excluding from the proceeding communications those persons who must not hear the matter. The court shall state in the proceeding communications that the matter is being heard outside their hearing and shall state when the proceeding resumes.
The Record. Upon the conclusion of a sidebar or in camera hearing, the court shall state in the proceeding communications the fact that it was held, the persons who participated, the subject of the hearing, the ruling made, and the ground of the ruling. That statement is the record of the hearing.
Preservation. The court shall cause the log of any channel in which such a hearing was conducted to be preserved. A party may request that the log be made part of the record, and the court shall grant the request unless the log contains matter that may not be made public.
Confidential Material. The electronic filing system provides no sealing of an individual document and no redaction, and confidentiality attaches only by the type of the case. Accordingly:
no order shall direct that a document be filed under seal in a case that is not itself a sealed matter;
material submitted to the court in camera, and any log containing matter that may not be made public, shall not be filed through the electronic filing system in a case that is not a sealed matter; the court shall retain it, or shall direct the submitting party to retain it and to produce it upon order;
the court shall describe on the record the material it examined, with particularity sufficient to permit review, and shall state its ruling; and
where confidentiality must be maintained, the court shall protect it by an order directed to persons, which binds those persons and is enforceable as a contempt, and not by any restriction upon the record of the case.
Rulings; Deferred Rulings; Reconsideration.
The court shall rule upon an objection when it is made, unless it defers the ruling, in which case it shall state that the ruling is deferred and shall rule before the close of the evidence.
Evidence received subject to a deferred ruling is received de bene under Rule 104(2), and the court shall state the condition and the party who bears it.
The court may reconsider a ruling upon evidence at any time before the close of the evidence, and shall state on the record the ruling as revised. A party against whom evidence is admitted upon reconsideration shall be given the opportunity to object and to be heard.
Where the court excludes evidence and later admits it, or admits evidence and later strikes it, the court shall state on the record the effect of the change upon the evidence already received.
The Record of an Evidentiary Ruling. An evidentiary ruling is of record when it is stated in the proceeding communications of the case or in an order accepted upon the docket. A ruling communicated to a party otherwise than on the record is of no effect until so stated. The court may direct that a ruling stated in the proceeding communications be reduced to an order and filed, and the order shall recite the date and the substance of the ruling as made.
Proceedings in Which No Jury Sits. In a proceeding in which no jury sits:
the court may admit evidence subject to later exclusion, and shall state that it does so;
a claim of error is not defeated by the court’s receipt of the evidence where the court has stated that it does not rely upon it; and
the court’s statement that it disregards evidence has the effect of an instruction to disregard.
Preservation Where the Defendant Is Absent. Where a defendant is tried, in whole or in part, in the defendant’s absence upon an express waiver of presence under Rid. R. Crim. P. 18(c) or upon an absentia authorization entered under Rid. R. Crim. P. 18.3:
an objection, a motion to strike, an offer of proof, a request for a ruling, and a continuing objection made upon the record by counsel of record preserve a claim of error to the same extent as if the defendant were present, the defendant’s absence not diminishing counsel’s authority to act on the defendant’s behalf, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.501(f) provides;
a claim of error is not waived, and appellate review is not narrowed, by reason of the absence, a judgment rendered against an absent defendant being subject to appeal and to post-conviction review to the same extent as any other judgment, as 6 R. Stat. § 131.501(g) provides;
the absence of the defendant is not an opportunity foregone within subdivision (2), and no claim is lost because the defendant did not personally object; and
where the defendant appears before the close of the evidence, counsel may renew any objection and may move to strike any matter received during the absence, and the court shall entertain the renewal without regard to the time of the original ruling.