Unified Appeal
Statement of Purposes

A. Purposes of the Outline of proceedings

1. Insuring that all legal issues which ought to be raised on behalf of the defendant have been considered by the defendant and defense counsel and asserted in a timely and correct manner.
2. Minimizing the occurrence of error and correcting as promptly as possible any error that nonetheless may occur.
3. Making certain that the record and transcripts of the proceedings are complete for unified review by the sentencing court and by the Supreme Court.
   

B. Purposes of the Checklist

1. Appended to the Outline of Proceedings is a Checklist of legal issues which may arise in a death-penalty case. Its purpose is to remind the court, defense counsel and the prosecuting attorney of these issues and to provide a quick reference to case authority on them. The parties may raise any issue, whether or not it is listed on the checklist. The checklist shall be revised and updated periodically.
2. Proper use of the Checklist as a means of avoiding or promptly correcting error will require the court to schedule conferences (see Sections II and III) during which defense counsel and the prosecuting attorney will be given an opportunity to present, or to schedule for presentation, issues which would be waived if not asserted in the proper and timely fashion. These conferences shall be transcribed by the official court reporter.