Court Checklist

Local courts retain the responsibility to oversee the management and adjudication of OLS cases. To assist in diagnosing the readiness of local courts to process OLS cases, OCA offers the following checklist for consideration.

• Logistical Questions

  • Do you have additional clerk staff (county clerk, district clerk, court clerks) to route and handle incoming OLS case volume (including potential records requests)?

  • Have you contacted the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to visit about indigent defense system needs?

  • Are you using a regional OLS booking facility?

    • If YES:

      • Do you have magistrates and court personnel (i.e., licensed court interpreters for courts, scheduling coordinator, etc.) to staff magistration when OCA-provided judges cannot?

      • Who will receive magistration files from the VideoMagistrate system?

      • How will clerk receive Article 16.22 mental health evaluations?

    • If NO:

      • Do you have magistrates and court personnel to absorb incoming OLS cases?

        • Do you have a licensed interpreter to translate at magistration?

      • Are you prepared to handle Article 16.22 mental health evaluations?

      • Is your indigent defense system prepared to absorb appointment requests?

        • Are you prepared to appoint counsel locally?

        • Are you prepared to handle indigent defense costs locally?

• Personnel

  • Magistrates

  • Licensed court interpreters

  • Scheduling coordinator

  • Document clerks

• Technology

  • Computer w/camera and microphone

  • Internet 

• Logistical Questions

  • Do you have the staff and resources to smoothly and efficiently process a high-volume docket?

    • Do you have a court coordinator available to handle increased volume?

    • Do you have court licensed interpreters?

    • Do you have a court reporter available?

  • Do you need to request the assistance of a visiting judge to handle the docket?

    • Do you have the court support resources available to support the visiting judge?

  • Is your county using TDCJ facilities to house pretrial defendants?

    • If so:

      • Is your court capable of handling high volume of cases remotely?

      • Do you have a means to track at which TDCJ facility your defendants are being held?

      • Do you have technology to smoothly and efficiently conduct a remote docket?

        • Active Zoom license?

        • YouTube page for open courts live stream?

        • Ability to pass signed documents back and forth between jail/prison, prosecution, judge, and defendant/counsel

• Training needs

  • Zoom/YouTube 

• Personnel

  • Court coordinator comfortable with prepping remote hearings

  • Licensed court interpreters

  • Court reporter (choose Entity Type) 

• Technology

  • Computer w/camera and mic

  • Internet