Rule 6.080.Marking Exhibits

Before trial begins, the parties mark their exhibits. Plaintiff's exhibits run consecutively from 1 through 99. Defendant's exhibits run consecutively from 101 through 199. On request the court must assign additional blocks of numbers, so running out is a solvable problem rather than a reason to improvise.

Cases with multiple parties or a large number of exhibits get handled by agreement: the parties shall agree on the assignment of numbers. If they cannot agree, or if the numbering system cannot accommodate them for any reason, the court may direct another system, as long as it is not inconsistent with the intent of the rule. The trial court administrator supplies the stamps, labels, or tags on request, and the parties give the court a list of premarked exhibits as the assigned judge orders.

Three categories need not be premarked: exhibits that are not available when trial begins, exhibits not reasonably anticipated to be used, and exhibits intended for impeachment. The rule's own 1988 note adds that this carve-out cannot and does not change the discovery rules that statutes set for criminal cases.

Biological evidence carries an extra step. At a trial or hearing involving a covered offense, a party introducing an exhibit containing biological evidence must give the court, in writing, the name, agency, mailing address, and telephone number of the custodian responsible for each such exhibit, and must indicate whether the defense collected the evidence. For a trial, that information goes in with the premarked exhibit list. The terms biological evidence, covered offense, and custodian all take their meanings from ORS 133.705.