Colo. R. Crim. P. 55

As amended through Rule Change 2024(18), effective October 2, 2024

Rule 55 - Records

(a)Register of actions (criminal docket). The clerk shall keep a record known as the register of actions and shall enter those items set forth below. The register of actions may be in any form or style prescribed by Chief Justice Directive or approved by the State Court Administrator.

A register of actions shall be prepared for each case filed. The file number of each case shall be entered in the court case management system. All documents filed with the clerk, all process issued and returns made thereon, all costs, appearances, orders, verdicts, and judgments shall be noted chronologically in the register of actions. The entries shall be brief but shall show the date and title of each document filed, order or writ issued, data transfer submitted or received, and the substance of each order or judgment of the court and the returns showing execution of process. The notation of an order or judgment shall show the date the notation is made. The notation of the judgment in the register of actions shall constitute the entry of judgment.

(b)Criminal Record. Repealed effective September 4, 1974.

(c)Indices; Calendars. The clerk shall keep indices of all records. The clerk shall also keep as directed by the court, calendars of all hearings and all cases ready for trial, which shall distinguish trials to a jury from trials to the court. Indices and calendars may be in any form or style prescribed by Chief Justice Directive or approved by the State Court Administrator.

(d)Files. Repealed effective June 6, 2019.

(e)Reporter's Notes; Custody, Use, Ownership, Retention. For proceedings in district court, the practice and procedure concerning court reporter notes and electronic or mechanical recordings shall be as prescribed in Chief Justice Directive 05-03, Management Plan for Court Reporting and Recording Services. For proceedings in county court, that practice and procedure shall be as prescribed in C.R.C.P. 380.

(f)Retention and Disposition of Records. The clerk shall retain and dispose of all court records in accordance with the Colorado Judicial Department's records retention manual.

Colo. R. Crim. P. 55

Amended and adopted February 14, 2019, effective 2/14/2019; amended and adopted June 6, 2019, effective 6/6/2019.

Annotation Court of record has an affirmative duty to contemporaneously record all proceedings. Reconstruction of the record at a later time is not an adequate substitute for a contemporaneous record. Jones v. District Court, 780 P.2d 526 (Colo. 1989). Bench or side-bar conferences are not to be conducted off the record unless the parties so request or so consent. Jones v. District Court, 780 P.2d 526 (Colo. 1989). But a failure to record all trial proceedings will not always result in reversible error. Trial court's failure to record certain bench conferences and pretrial conference was harmless where defense counsel never objected to unrecorded proceedings, defendant cannot show how error prejudiced her, and there is sufficient information on the record to rule on appeal. People v. Pineda, 40 P.3d 60 (Colo. App. 2001). The court did not err by taking judicial notice of defendant's probation status after determining the status from the state computer system. Since § 13-1-119 and this rule expressly approve of records kept and maintained in a state computer system, the court may take judicial notice of the court records contained in the system. People v. Linares-Guzman, 195 P.3d 1130 (Colo. App. 2008).