Discovery In The States

Discovery is a part of the legal process that involves disclosing relevant information before a case goes to trial. Each state has its own laws, court rules, and case law governing the discovery process. These procedures address factors such as: how discovery is to be requested; the timing of when the information is to be disclosed; who is required to disclose the information; and what information is required to be disclosed. The interactive map below features data on the most relevant discovery rules in all 50 states.

INSTRUCTIONS

The filters to the right of the map (designated by blue buttons) represent the topic of the potential discovery request (i.e., defendant, witness, expert, or other evidence). Under these filters, the clickable boxes cover some of the common forms of discovery that may be requested (e.g., a defendant’s criminal history or an expert witness’s report). Once you have clicked the desired boxes, select “apply filters,” and the map will highlight which states require disclosure of the information you selected. An alphabetical listing of the search results will also display below the map.

If you would like information on a single state, click on the map or the state’s name to see details about that state’s discovery rules.

If you wish to see how different states’ discovery rules compare to one another, you can generate a side-by-side comparison of up to 3 states at once. You can use this feature by either selecting states from the alphabetical listing below the map or conducting a filtered search and selecting states for comparison from the search results (listed alphabetically below the map).

If you are interested in accessing the underlying state-by-state data used to create this map, you can download the Excel version at the bottom of every page using the “Save as Excel” button.

If you believe any of the information on this site is incorrect, please reach out to the JFA team at JFA@nacdl.org.

State	Discovery Statute/Rule	Def. Criminal History	Witness List	Expert Reports	Grand Jury Transcripts	Police Reports
Alabama	Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure 16	Yes	No	No	No	No
Alaska	Alaska Rules of Criminal Procedure 16	Yes	No	No	No	No
American Samoa	American Samoa Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 16	No	No	No	No	No
Arizona	Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure 15.4	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Arkansas		No	Yes	No	Yes	No
California	California Penal Code § 1054	No	No	No	No	No
Colorado	Colorado Rules of Criminal Procedure 16	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Connecticut	Connecticut General Statutes § 54-86a - 54-86c Connecticut Practice Book § 40	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Delaware	Delaware Rules of Criminal Procedure 16	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
District of Columbia	D.C. Criminal Rule 12 D.C. Criminal Rule 16	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Florida	Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.220	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Georgia	Georgia Criminal Procedure Chapter 16 Article 1 § 17-16-4	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Guam	Guam Code, 2019 Statutes, Title 8 §§ 70.10 - 70.80	No	Yes	No	No	No
Hawaii	Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure 6 Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure 12, 15, 16	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Idaho	Idaho Rules of Criminal Procedure 15, 16 Idaho Code § 19-519	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Illinois	Illinois Superior Court Rules 411 - 417	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Indiana	Indiana Court Rules of Trial Procedure Rule 26*	No	No	No	No	No
Iowa	Iowa Rules of Criminal Procedure 2.14	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Kansas	Kansas Statutes § 22-3211 - 22-3212	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Kentucky	Kentucky Rules of Criminal Procedure 7.24, 7.26	No	No	No	No	Yes
Louisiana	Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 716 - 729.7 Louisiana Laws Code of Civil Procedure 1438 Louisiana Revised Statutes § 15:440.5	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Maine	Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure 15 - 16a	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Maryland	Maryland Court Rules on Criminal Causes 4-261 - 4-263 Maryland Court Rules Criminal Causes 4-301	Yes	No	No	No	No
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Criminal Procedure Rule 14	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Michigan	Michigan Court Rule 6.200	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
Minnesota	Minnesota Court Rules of Criminal Procedure 9	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Mississippi	Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure 17	No	Yes	No	No	No
Missouri	Missouri Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure 25	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Montana	Montana Code Annotated 46-15-200 Montana Code Annotated 46-15-322 - 46-15-323	No	Yes	No	No	No
Nebraska	Nebraska Revised Statute Chapter 29	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Nevada	Nevada Revised Statutes 174.171 - 174.295	No	Yes	No	No	No
New Hampshire	New Hampshire Rules of the Superior Court 21 - 29 New Hampshire Criminal Procedure in a Criminal Court § 592-B:6	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
New Jersey	New Jersey Court Rules 12 - 13	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
New Mexico	New Mexico Rules of Criminal Procedure for the District Courts Article 5	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
New York	New York Criminal Procedure Law Articles 245 - 250.2	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
North Carolina	North Carolina General Statute Section 15A Article 48	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
North Dakota	North Dakota Rules of Criminal Procedure 12, 15, 16	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Northern Mariana Islands	Northern Mariana Islands Rules of Criminal Procedure 12.1, 15, 16	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Ohio	Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure 16	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Oklahoma	Oklahoma Statute Section 22-2002	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Oregon	Oregon Revised Statutes § 135.805 - 135.873 Oregon Uniform Trial Court Rules 7.010	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure 573 Pennsylvania Statute 42-59-5919	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico Title 34A Rules of Criminal Procedure, § II Rules 94, 95, 95A, 95B	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Rhode Island	Rhode Island Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure 15, 16 Rhode Island General Law Section 12-17-16	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
South Carolina	South Carolina Rules of Criminal Procedure 5	Yes	No	No	No	No
South Dakota	South Dakota Codified Law § 23A-9, 23A-12, 23A-13	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Tennessee	Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure 12.1, 15, 16	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Texas	Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 39.14	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
U.S. Virgin Islands	U.S. Virgin Islands Rules of Criminal Procedure 12.1, 15, 16, 26.2	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Utah	Utah Rules Criminal Procedure Rule 16	Yes	No	No	No	No
Vermont	Vermont Rules of Criminal Procedure 15 - 16.2	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Virginia	Virginia Rules of Supreme Court 3A:11	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
Washington	Washington Superior Court Criminal Rule 4.6 - 4.7	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
West Virginia	West Virginia Rules of Criminal Procedure 12.1, 15, 16	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Wisconsin	Wisconsin Statute Section 971.23	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No
Wyoming	Wyoming Rules of Criminal Procedure 12.1, 15, 16	Yes	No	No	Yes	No

Compare

Discovery In The States

INSTRUCTIONS

See the Types of Discovery That Must Be Disclosed By State

Learn About an Individual State’s Discovery Rules

Compare Discovery Requirements Among Multiple States

See the Raw Data