Pennsylvania Code
Title 234 - RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
Chapter 6 - TRIAL PROCEDURES IN COURT CASES
Part C(1) - Impaneling Jury
Rule 634 - Number of Peremptory Challenges
Universal Citation: 234 PA Code ยง 634
Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 12, March 23, 2024
(A) Trials Involving Only One Defendant:
(1) In trials involving misdemeanors only and
when there is only one defendant, the Commonwealth and the defendant shall each
be entitled to 5 peremptory challenges.
(2) In trials involving a non-capital felony
and when there is only one defendant, the Commonwealth and the defendant shall
each be entitled to 7 peremptory challenges.
(3) In trials involving a capital felony and
when there is only one defendant, the Commonwealth and the defendant shall each
be entitled to 20 peremptory challenges.
(B) Trials Involving Joint Defendants:
(1) In trials involving joint defendants, the
defendants shall divide equally among them that number of peremptory challenges
that the defendant charged with the highest grade of offense would have
received if tried separately; provided, however, that each defendant shall be
entitled to at least 2 peremptory challenges. When such division of peremptory
challenges among joint defendants results in a fraction of a peremptory
challenge, each defendant shall be entitled to the next highest number of such
challenges.
(2) In trials involving
joint defendants, it shall be within the discretion of the trial judge to
increase the number of peremptory challenges to which each defendant is
entitled up to the number of peremptory challenges that each defendant would
have received if tried alone.
(3)
In trials involving joint defendants, the Commonwealth shall be entitled to
peremptory challenges equal in number to the total number of peremptory
challenges given to all of the defendants.
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