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Jury Evidence Recording System (JERS)

The District Court for the Southern District of Iowa uses the Jury Evidence Recording System (JERS) that allows evidence admitted during trial to be viewed electronically in the jury deliberation room upon the conclusion of trial.

JERS provides easy access to evidence during deliberations through the use of a large screen monitor in the jury room using a touch screen kiosk. JERS reduces the need to handle physical evidence while allowing the jury to view evidence easily, play audio and video recordings, and have access to the trial evidence in an indexed fashion.

The presiding judge will determine how and if JERS will be used during any trial.


SUBMITTING EXHIBITS

All exhibits should be submitted electronically via Box.com, USB drive, DVD, or CD. Submitting via Box.com is preferable. If used, a link will be provided by chambers for counsel to upload the exhibits.


FILE TYPES FOR EXHIBITS

JERS will accept electronic evidence in the following formats only:

  • Documents and photographs: .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .pdf, .tif, .tiff
  • Video and audio recordings: .avi, .mpg, .mpeg, .mp3, .mp4, .wav, .wma, .wmv, .asf, .m4a, .m4v, .3gpp

Each file may not be larger than 500 MB.


FORMATTING INSTRUCTIONS

Each exhibit file should be named like the examples below:

(Exhibit number)_(exhibit description).(file extension)
1_camera footage.wmv
2_photo of east side.jpg
3_contract.pdf

If an exhibit has sub-parts, naming should follow these examples:

(Exhibit number)-(exhibit subpart)_(exhibit description).(file extension)
3-a_photo of store from east view.jpg
3-b_photo of store from west view.jpg

Additional Guidance:

  • The exhibit description may not exceed 130 characters, including spaces.
  • Quotation marks, brackets, parentheses, and foreign language accent marks MAY NOT be used in the exhibit description.  Hyphens and underscore characters must be used only as shown in the examples above.
  • The exhibit description will appear on the list displayed to the jury.

For additional information, please see the full instructions.