Assignment of Criminal Matters to Magistrate Judge

(a) Duty Magistrate Judge. The district assigns one magistrate judge to handle criminal matters on a rotating schedule (duty magistrate judge). Counsel may contact the clerk’s office to determine which magistrate judge is on duty. Other than the process to designate a single magistrate judge in Subsection (b), counsel shall not intentionally use the court’s duty schedule to gain an advantage in a criminal case, including delaying matters to appear before a different magistrate judge.

(1) The duty magistrate judge typically will preside over all non- emergency, pre-trial matters in a felony case, including but not limited to, 34 initial appearances, arraignments, detention hearings, preliminary hearings, and discovery disputes. (2) A district judge may refer additional criminal proceedings to the duty magistrate judge for a report and recommendation, such as a change of plea hearing. For hearings referred by a district judge, the duty magistrate judge will preside over the hearing and discuss with Defendant: the referral, the report and recommendation, and that Defendant has 14 days to object to the court’s report and recommendation under CrimLR57.4(b). (b) Assigned Magistrate Judge in Certain Cases.

The court may assign a specific magistrate judge in certain criminal cases. The court may identify a case, or related cases, appropriate for an assigned magistrate judge based upon the following factors: the projected budget for counsel, experts, and other expenses; complexity including whether the case is formally determined to be “complex”; the frequency of preliminary matters to be handled by a magistrate judge; and, more generally, for efficiency and continuity.