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Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.861 · Article 2. Record in Misdemeanor Appeals

Contents of clerk's transcript

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)

Except in appeals covered by rule 8.867 or when the parties have filed a stipulation under rule 8.860(b) that any of these items is not required for proper determination of the appeal, the clerk's transcript must contain:

(1) The complaint, including any notice to appear, and any amendment;

(2) Any demurrer or other plea;

(3) All court minutes;

(4) Any jury instructions that any party submitted in writing, the cover page required by rule 2.1055(b)(2), and any written jury instructions given by the court;

(5) Any written communication between the court and the jury or any individual juror;

(6) Any verdict;

(7) Any written findings or opinion of the court;

(8) The judgment or order appealed from;

(9) Any motion or notice of motion for new trial, in arrest of judgment, or to dismiss the action, with supporting and opposing memoranda and attachments;

(10) Any transcript of a sound or sound-and-video recording furnished to the jury or tendered to the court under rule 2.1040; and

(11) The notice of appeal; and

(12) If the appellant is the defendant:

(A) Any written defense motion denied in whole or in part, with supporting and opposing memoranda and attachments;

(B) If related to a motion under (A), any search warrant and return;

(C) Any document admitted in evidence to prove a prior juvenile adjudication, criminal conviction, or prison term. If a record was closed to public inspection in the trial court because it is required to be kept confidential by law, it must remain closed to public inspection in the appellate division unless that court orders otherwise;

(D) The probation officer's report; and

(E) Any court-ordered psychological report required under Penal Code section 1369.

Notes and commentary — not rule text

History

Rule 8.861 amended effective January 1, 2010; adopted effective January 1, 2009.

Advisory Committee Comment

Rule 8.862(c) addresses the appropriate handling of probation officers' reports that must be included in the clerk's transcript under (12)(D).

Source of truth

Edition
As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
Official file
https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/eight/rule8_861
Text hash
sha256 2928f9b177f41e0c17a2ec5eb6c8feba2c875d43e17e899881eff54d4e9b5a2a
Composed by
compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph

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Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.