On May 9, 2011, a pilot program commenced in which the U.S. Probation Office is now electronically filing and serving pre-sentence investigation reports through CM/ECF.
If the case is a sealed case or if the re-arraignment is sealed, these reports will NOT be electronically filed. They will be submitted on paper in a sealed manner to the attorneys and the court.
If a case is appealed, these reports will continue to be transmitted on paper in a sealed envelope to the Court of Appeals. At some point in the near future, we anticipate the 5th Circuit will begin accepting these documents electronically, as well.
The Probation Office will designate personnel to e-file these reports. The designated probation officers will be set up as court users in CM/ECF with limited docketing privileges.
When a report is filed, a docket entry will appear on a public docket sheet with the docket text reflecting that the pre-sentence report is either a ‘draft’ or ‘final’, the defendant’s name, and that the document will have restricted access.
The NEF of the docket entry will be sent only to the government and applicable defense attorneys as determined by Probation. If an attorney is not a CM/ECF user, Probation must serve the report on them by conventional means.
The Probation officer will then grant electronic access to view the document only to the government and applicable defense attorneys via an electronic “padlock” similar to the way court transcripts are handled now. This padlock also has a ‘history’ feature displaying the user who grants access, to whom access is given, and the date this occurred. The Probation officers have been cautioned to verify that only those attorneys representing the government and the defendant to be sentenced get access to the report.
Each judge should designate a group of those staff members, if any, who will have access to the ‘Final’ pre-sentence investigation report and associated attachments.
As the Clerk’s office docketing staff will not generally have access to the documents, these docket entries will not be QCed.
FILING PROCEDURES
The Draft Pre-Sentence Investigation Report is e-filed by Probation and includes instructions to attorneys to file objections or sentencing memoranda directly to the Probation Office and not e-filed in CM/ECF. Probation will monitor the deadline for objections as they currently do. Though it will appear on the docket activity report, the Judge and staff will not have access to view the draft report. Only the government and applicable defense attorneys, as determined by Probation, will have access.
Objections to pre-sentence investigation report are to be filed by attorneys directly with the Probation Office and not e-filed in CM/ECF.
Sentencing Memoranda shall continue to be delivered by attorneys directly to the judge. These will not be e-filed in CM/ECF.
The Final (and any Revised Final) Pre-Sentence Investigation Report (including worksheet) is e-filed by Probation with the following attachments: (1) sentencing recommendation, (2) any addendum, and (3) any letters. The docket entry will appear on a docket activity report. The case manager or other designated chamber’s staff will notify the judge of the filing. Only Probation and those staff members designated by the judge will have access to view the final report AND its attachments. The government and applicable defense attorneys will have access to the report but not the attachments.
