Retrieval or Disposition of Exhibits

(a) Custody of Standard Exhibits. — The court shall have safekeeping responsibilities for exhibits admitted at trial or hearing; however, at the conclusion of the trial or hearing, the court shall only retain standard exhibits. As used in this rule, standard exhibits include documents, photographs, and video or other electronically stored data on a disk or storage device–it does not include sensitive or bulky exhibits. The court shall not take custody or possession of physical evidence. Attorneys offering physical evidence at a trial or hearing must submit a photograph of the item to the court, which will retain the photograph as part of the record in lieu of the physical item. At the conclusion of the hearing or trial, physical evidence shall be returned to the custody of the party (attorney/law enforcement agency) who offered the item, and they shall be responsible for transporting and safekeeping the exhibit until the time to appeal has expired or any appeal taken has concluded. The party (attorney/law enforcement agency) in charge of the exhibit shall permit inspection of the exhibit by any party for purposes of preparing the record on appeal. (b) Sensitive and Bulky Exhibits. — At all times sensitive or bulky exhibits such as money, drugs, and firearms shall remain in the custody of the party (attorney/law enforcement agency) producing them. If deemed appropriate by the court, some of these exhibits may be provided to the jury for examination during deliberation but shall be returned to the party (attorney/law enforce- ment agency) for safekeeping at the conclusion of jury’s examination. A signed receipt identifying the exhibits returned is to be filed in the case. The party Page: 19 Date: 04/23/26 Time: 10:52:35 Style Spec Used: WY_RULES Path: @psc3913.lexisnexis.com/eden_primary/primary/WY/WYCourtRulesRV_repvol/WY_CR_UnifRDistCt_01_PREVIEW_51_psc3788_001 19 UNIFORM RULES FOR DISTRICT COURTS