Rule 34. Arrest of Judgment

The court on motion of a defendant shall arrest judgment if the court was without jurisdiction of the crime charged. The motion in arrest of judgment shall be made prior to the entry of judgment or within 14 days thereafter or within such further time as the court may fix during the 14-day period.

Committee Notes

Committee Advisory Note [December 2014] The Rule parallels the contents of Rule 34 of the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure but differs in the following respects. First, an arrest of judgment is no longer available in the event the charging instrument fails to allege all the necessary elements of the crime (i.e., to charge a crime) because that defect does not deprive the trial court of jurisdiction to try the case and must now be raised before trial pursuant to Rule 12(b)(2). See Committee Advisory Note [December 2014] to M.R.U. Crim. P. 12(b)(2). A similar change was adopted on April 25, 2014, by the Supreme Court of the United States regarding Rule 34 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure for the same reason. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 34 (effective Dec. 1, 2014). Second, the references to "10 days" and "10-day period" are changed to "14 days" and "14-day period" respectively to reflect the Court's preference for calculating time periods for rule purposes in increments of 7 rather than increments of 5.