Rule 9.3 Briefs; Time Limitations; Oral Argument

A. Brief in Chief. The brief in chief of the appellant shall be filed within one hundred and twenty (120) days of the filing of the notice directing transmission of the record from the clerk of the District Court to the Clerk of this Court and Appellant's counsel as enumerated in Section 701.13(A) and (D) of Title 21. The brief in chief of the appellee shall be filed within sixty (60) days of the filing of the appellant's brief in chief. The brief in chief of either party shall not exceed one hundred (100) typewritten, 8-1/2 x 11-inch pages in length, and shall not use more than 12 characters per inch in the body of the brief. See Rule 3.5(E)

B. Issues. Both parties must brief the two determinations to be made by this Court in its mandatory sentence review as set forth inRule 9.4.

C. Reply Brief. A reply brief may be filed by the appellant within twenty (20) days of the filing of the appellee's brief in chief. The reply brief shall only respond to the appellee's brief in chief, and is limited to twenty (20) pages in length.

D. Supplemental Brief. Either party may file a supplemental brief, upon written application and approval by this Court. This brief shall only supplement authorities cited in the previous briefs and shall not exceed ten (10) pages. The order allowing a supplemental brief shall set out the due date and page limitations for any response brief. In the event there is a substantial change in the law, since the time of the filing of the brief in chief, this Court shall be notified of the change within thirty (30) days after the change of law is published, and for good cause shown, may increase the number of pages, but in no case to exceed twenty (20) pages.

E. Waiver of New Propositions, Conditional Filing. Propositions of error advanced for the first time in any reply or supplemental brief will be deemed forfeited for consideration. See Brown v. State, 871 P.2d 56 (Okl.Cr.1994); Castro v. State, 745 P.2d 394, 404 (Okl.Cr.1987). Any supplemental brief tendered for filing, as used in these rules, shall mean the brief has been accepted for filing ONLY. See Rule 3.4(F)(2). New propositions of error may be advanced in a supplemental brief only on an issue of first impression decided after an appellant's brief-in-chief is filed but before the appellant's case is decided by this Court; however, the application to file supplemental brief, with brief attached, containing the new proposition must be tendered for filing within thirty (30) days after the issue of first impression is published. Supplemental briefs containing new propositions filed after this thirty-day period will be deemed forfeited for consideration. If the application is granted, the Court may direct a response from the appellee, if required. For purposes of this Rule, an "issue of first impression" is defined as one where the result was not dictated by precedent existing at the time an appellant was convicted at trial, one which was susceptible to debate among reasonable minds, and is shown to be retroactively applicable to appellant's trial. Also for purposes of this Rule, "published" here refers to the date of the Oklahoma Bar Journal in which the opinion first appears; or the official slip opinions released by federal courts. In all such briefs, this Court may not consider the brief's contents if they are not timely, or otherwise properly before the Court.

F. Oral Argument. Oral argument shall be set in all capital cases pursuant to Section 701.13(D) of Title 21. The time and date of the oral argument shall be set by this Court. Each party shall be allowed a maximum of forty-five (45) minutes, with the appellant being allowed fifteen (15) additional minutes for rebuttal. Oral arguments may be electronically recorded to allow judges not in attendance to review and participate in the decision of the case. Allegations of error properly raised in the briefs, but not argued, are not deemed waived for consideration.

G. Extensions of Time to Brief. See Rule 3.4(D).