CourTex - July 2013: Supreme Court Amends Order Requiring E-Filing

Bills Passed Impacting Judiciary
The Texas Judicial Council has updated its website with the latest legislation that could impact the judiciary if enacted. You may access the 83rd Session updates from the Legislative Updates page of the Texas Judicial Council website.

Supreme Court Amends Order Requiring E-Filing

On June 24, the Supreme Court of Texas issued an amended order requiring electronic filing by attorneys in the appellate courts, district courts, statutory county courts, constitutional county courts and statutory probate courts. The amended order clarifies that juvenile cases are not subject to the statewide mandate at the district court, statutory county court and constitutional county court. Juvenile cases on appeal at the appellate courts are still subject to the statewide mandate. To read the full order, visit

http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/miscdocket/13/13909200.pdf.

TexFile Update

The first official filing within TexFile occurred on June 26 in Gregg County, shortly after 10 am.

TexFile personnel were present in offices on both sides of the transaction - the filing attorney and the Gregg County District Clerk.

The TexFile team is working diligently with the Electronic Filing Service Providers (EFSPs), the Case Management System (CMS) vendors and the top 10 most populous counties to build out TexFile. The team delivered the test version of the system earlier this year and the production system went online earlier last month.

The first county to use TexFile will be Gregg County (Longview, TX). The team has also identified Fort Bend County as a larger pilot county to go online late July. Transitions of counties that currently use the Texas.gov system will begin in earnest starting on 9/1.

TexFile will be working through the local bar associations in the top 10 most populous counties to provide outreach to the attorneys in the area to bring awareness to eFiling and the impending mandate.

For more information, please visit www.TexFile.com

Court Approves Revised Forms for Uncontested Divorces for Couples without Children or Real Property

In an order posted June 18, the Texas Supreme Court issued revised do-it-yourself divorce forms deigned for poor couples without real-property holdings and children and without contested issues in their divorce.

The revised forms establish a section for a divorcing couple to identify retirement accounts each may hold and possibly to divide retirement in the final divorce decree. Any division of a retirement account, the forms note, must be enforced by a qualified domestic-relations order that should be prepared by an attorney.

The Court approved the initial divorce forms in November. They were immediately effective, subject to public comment.

The revised forms became effective on June 17.

Order on revised divorce forms

New Website for Self-Represented Litigants

A partnership made up of Lone Star Legal Aid, OCA, Texas Legal Services Center, and the Access to Justice Commission is launching a new website for self-represented litigants, www.TexasCourtHelp.org. The website, which is in both English and Spanish, contains videos and other information about going through the court system. The website emphasizes the importance of having a lawyer and covers such topics as how to find and work with a lawyer, what court staff can and cannot do to help, where to find forms, getting ready to go to court, how to act in court, protective orders, and mediation. The website is funded by a grant from the Legal Services Corporation to Lone Star Legal Aid.

New Report Documents Advantages for Counties Participating in the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases

A new research report by the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University details the important benefits available to Texas counties participating in the Regional Public Defender Office for Capital Cases (RPDO). The report, titled Judgment and Justice: An Evaluation of the Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases, was requested by the Commission and is now available here on the Commission's website.

In some parts of the state it can be difficult to find a well-qualified legal team experienced with capital litigation. RPDO member counties pay an annual membership fee which protects against the high costs of defense in capital murder cases and guarantees access to a qualified capital defense team when the need arises.

Among the report's key findings:

Because the costs of defense are pre-paid through an annual fee, member counties are willing to appoint a full capital team earlier and in a larger proportion of cases than non-member counties.

RPDO's strategic focus on early mitigation investigations is much more likely to result in disposition of the case by plea, thus avoiding costly capital trials.

Counties that join the RPDO are in immediate conformance with standards of quality for capital defense recommended by the State Bar of Texas Guidelines and Standards for Texas Capital Counsel.

Sentencing outcomes are better for clients with public defenders. Just one in 26 RPDO clients in the matched study sample received a sentence of death. Among private assigned counsel, one in five clients received this worst possible outcome.

The RPDO was formed through inter-local agreements with participating counties and supported through Commission discretionary grants. The program is administered by Lubbock County and now has offices throughout the state. Texas counties with populations below 300,000 are eligible to participate. More information is available on the RPDO's website at: http://rpdo.org.

Three Key Bills Signed Into Law That Impact Indigent Defense

There were three key bills that were signed by the Governor on June 14th that impact indigent defense. HB 1318 by Representative Sylvester Turner is the most significant of these and includes three distinct parts. One part relates to the caseloads handled by attorneys providing representation to indigent defendants. The bill requires the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to conduct and publish a study by January 1, 2015 "for the purpose of determining guidelines for establishing a maximum allowable caseload for a criminal defense attorney..." The bill also requires each county to submit to the Commission with its indigent defense plans beginning November 1, 2013 the plans of operation for the creation of a public defender's office or managed assigned counsel program, as well as a copy of any contract for indigent defense services maintained by the county. HB 1318 also requires attorneys on the appointment list to submit to county annually by October 15th information for the preceding fiscal year that describes the percentage of the attorney's practice time that was dedicated to appointed criminal and juvenile delinquency work in the county. (Starting October 15, 2014) In turn, the bill requires the county to submit to the Commission annually the information provided to the county by those attorneys described above, along with information that describes for the preceding fiscal year the number of appointments made to each attorney accepting appointments in the county. (Starting November 1, 2014) The Commission will partner with a variety of stakeholders, including counties, courts, and the criminal defense bar to implement this bill in way that is as seamless as possible while providing meaningful information to policy makers.

HB 1245 by Representative Sylvester Turner will permit criminal defense attorney investigators, experts and mitigation specialists to receive training using judicial and court personnel training funds administered by the court of criminal appeals. The bill goes into effect September 1, 2014 and the legislature included an appropriation to the Court of Criminal Appeals contingent on the bill's passage of $115,200 in FY2015.

SB 1044 by Senator Jose Rodriguez will permit public defender's offices and the Office of Capital Writs to access criminal history record information from the Department of Public Safety at no charge. Currently if such offices access the information they must pay $1 per electronic inquiry, $10 per paper inquiry based on name, and $15 per inquiry based on fingerprints. Full summaries of these bills are available on the Commission's legislative information webpage.

In addition to the three indigent defense related bills above, the Legislature also passed two bills that were the subject of recommendations from the Timothy Cole Advisory Panel on Wrongful Convictions. SB 1611 by Senator Ellis deals with discovery in criminal cases and is also known as the Michael Morton Act since it is designed to reduce the likelihood of wrongful convictions. The bill will require prosecutors to produce for and permit photocopying by the defense of witness statements, offense reports, and other relevant evidence. The bill should also increase efficiency and save resources for appointed counsel for indigent defendants since they will have immediate access to this information and will not need to spend time searching for it. The bill becomes effective January 1, 2014. SB 344 by Whitmire relates to so-called "junk science" cases by permitting a convicted individual to file an application for a writ of habeus corpus to challenge a conviction based on scientific evidence that is now outdated or discredited by advances since the trial.

Gideon Recognition for Counties

The Gideon Recognition program is inspired by the landmark U.S. Gideon Supreme Court case Gideon vs. Wainwright. Counties are recognized based on how well their programs meet the principles of the Fair Defense Act and the American Bar Association's Ten Principles of a Public Defense Delivery System. Counties may receive recognition for programs or achievements that demonstrate a significant level of innovation, such as a new solution to a problem, significantly streamlining a process, a measurable and significant increase in productivity, or improved service to indigent defendants or other stakeholders. Recognition may also be given to counties with exceptionally high performing indigent defense systems. In recognizing a county, the Commission seeks to promote innovative, high performing policies that are replicable in other counties. There have been two counties to receive this award:

Wichita County - see article in County magazine and TIDC e-Newsletter and Press Release

Burnet County - see Press Release and article in County magazine

To nominate a county please read more about the program here: [pdf] [docx]

For all the latest indigent defense news in Texas, please read the Commission's June e-Newsletter available online here.

Survey on Training for Judicial Council Monthly Activity Reports and Supreme Court Appointments and Fees Report

The Office of Court Administration now has the capability to do webinars. In order to develop the most beneficial content and plan enough sessions, we would like to gauge the level of interest and get some feedback about what areas clerks and judges need help with in submitting the Judicial Council's Monthly Activity Report and the Supreme Court Appointments and Fees Report.

If you are interested in training, please complete the survey online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JudInfoReportTraining.

Security Incident Reports

Article 102.017(f), Code of Criminal Procedure, requires a local administrative judge to submit a written report to OCA regarding any incident involving court security that occurs in or around a building housing a court. A security incident is defined as any adverse event that threatens the security of a person or property, or causes or may cause significant disruption to functions of the court due to a breach in security.

The local administrative district judge, local administrative statutory county court judge, or county judge typically refers the task of reporting to the sheriff's office. Justice courts are usually responsible for submitting their own reports. Some municipal court staff report incidents for their courts, while others may refer the task to the marshal's department or the police department.

The statute requires that a Security Incident Report be submitted no later than the third business day after the security incident occurs. The written report should be submitted on the Security Incident Form, which may be found on the Security Incidents section of OCA's Required Reporting page. Reporting instructions, including when and where to report the incidents to OCA, are also posted on the site.

The purpose of gathering the Security Incident Reports is to collect concrete, quantitative information about the frequency and nature of the security threats facing the judiciary. Any questions about submission of the reports, and information contained in the reports, including annual statistical data, should be directed to Katherine Martinez at Katherine.Martinez@txcourts.gov.

TAMES

The new appellate case management system has been deployed to all appellate courts with the exception of the 13th Court of Appeals (Corpus Christi/Edinburg) and the Court of Criminal Appeals. The two remaining sites are expected to be deployed sometime this fall.

TAMES allows for cases to process through the appellate courts in a completely electronic fashion. All inbound documents arrive electronically through the eFiling system or the TAMES Report Submission Portal (RSP). Once set for submission, judges have the ability to draft opinions, circulate and vote on them within the system. Once finalized, the opinions travel electronically back to the clerk to be released.

Three courts are using the fully electronic system and have significantly increased the number of empty shelves in their file rooms. Attorneys also enjoy greater transparency as most of the case file is posted on the court's website.

Supreme Court Appointments

The Supreme Court of Texas made the following appointments during June:

Gail M. Plummer (Frisco) and Alexander Ford Sasser III (McAllen) to the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas for a three-year term expiring on June 30, 2016;
Kate McKenna (Fort Davis) and Nancy Freeman Powers (League City) to the Commission for Lawyer Discipline for a three-year term expiring on August 31, 2016;
John H. Cayce, Jr. (Fort Worth) to the Board of Law Examiners for a term of six years expiring on August 31, 2019;
Sandra Zamora (San Antonio) and Lee Parsley (Austin) reappointed to the Board of Law Examiners for a six-year term expiring on August 31, 2019;
Jacqueline Pontello (Houston), Wayne Watts (Dallas) and Hon. Gina M. Benavides (McAllen - reappointed) to the Texas Access to Justice Commission for three-year terms to expire on May 31, 2016;
Judge David Peeples (San Antonio), Chief Justice Catherine Stone (San Antonio), Chief Justice Ann Crawford McClure (El Paso), Justice Jeff Brown (Houston), and Justice Elizabeth Lang-Miers (Dallas) to the Judicial Panel no Multi-District Litigation for a two-year term to expire on July 1, 2015;
Dr. Octavio N. Martinez, Jr. (Austin) to the Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families for a three-year term to expire on November 30, 2016;
Justiss Rasberry (El Paso), Rhonda Hughey (Kaufman), Lee H. Russell (Dallas), and Eric Johnson (Rosharon) to the Process Server Review Board for three-year terms to expire on July 1, 2016;
Judge Tony Lindsay (Houston) to the Process Server Review Board for a one-year term to expire on July 1, 2014.

Resources

Criminal Courts TA

The National Center's Court Services Division has available some free training and TA Sessions. NCSC is open to working through or with state AOCs as well as directly with individual courts. Interested jurisdictions should contact them as soon as possible because there is some lead time for submission to BJA for approval. Contact information for the project coordinator is shown in the flyer below.

Criminal Courts TA

Criminal Courts Training TA

Judicial Training Resource Links


Legislative Update - Lubbock	August 15, 2013	Overton Hotel & Conference Center 2322 Mac Davis Lane, Lubbock, TX
Legislative Update - Houston	August 20, 2013	Omni Houston Hotel 4 Riverway, Houston, TX
Legislative Update - Austin	August 23, 2013	Omni Southpark Austin 4140 Governors Row, Austin, TX

For more information, go to the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center website.

About the OCA

OCA is a state agency in the judicial branch that operates under the direction and supervision of the Supreme Court of Texas and the chief justice and is governed primarily byChapter 72 of the Texas Government Code. www.txcourts.gov

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