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Dallas County Criminal Court Local Rules (revised August 20, 2025), as registered in the statewide TOPICs local-rules registry (posted 10/07/2025): transfers between courts, initial settings after jail release, recusal and disqualification procedure, misdemeanor case assignments among the County Criminal Courts, writ-bond procedure, judges and the magistrate acting for absent judges, occupational driver's license practice, appointed-counsel compensation, decorum and professionalism, the magistrate's appointment and duties, and the Local Administrative Judge's duties and selection.
Texas > Dallas County > County Criminal Courts Nos. 1–11 and the County Criminal Courts of Appeals (assignment order names CCC 1–9 and App2; family-violence filings to CCC 10/11)
TRANSFERS BETWEEN COURTS: multiple charges in different courts — "Cases with the oldest file date will receive all the subsequent case filings"; a pending probation violation pulls the new case to the probation court; same filing/offense dates — the lowest case number receives; co-defendants (same criminal episode) follow the same guidelines; "Cases are not to be transferred on the day of trial without the consent of the accepting judge." INITIAL SETTING: "Upon release from jail each defendant shall be given written notice to appear in court three (3) weeks from the date of the jail release" (weekend releases: the Monday after the period; holiday endings roll to the next open day); unfiled cases reset in two-week periods with bulletin-board and County Clerk direction. RECUSAL PROCEDURE: "At least ten days before the date set for trial or other hearing … any party may file … a motion stating grounds why the judge … should not sit" — verified, particularized, on personal knowledge; same-day service on all parties with notice of presentment three days after filing; the judge "shall either recuse himself or request the presiding judge of the administrative judicial district to assign a judge to hear such motion," taking no further action except for good cause; denial reviewable for abuse of discretion on appeal; a delay-purposed motion risks TRCP 215(2)(b) sanctions. CASE ASSIGNMENTS (order to the County Clerk): applies to CCC 1(MA), 2(MB), 3(MC), 4(ME), 5(MF), 6(MG), 7(MH), 8(MJ), 9(MK), and CCC-App2(MM); the clerk "shall insure that each of the above-referenced County Criminal Courts shall receive approximately the same amount of case filings on an annual basis" and "should not file cases according to the number of cases a particular court disposes"; "If the case is marked for Family Violence it will be assigned to the CCC#10 or CCC#11." WRIT BOND PROCEDURE: for an at-large original capias, the defendant e-files a writ of habeas corpus (without the criminal case number), notifies the State to retrieve criminal history and the probable-cause affidavit, and approaches the judge of the filing court; "The Court will DENY Writs filed on cases in which the defendant is in custody at the municipality"; every bond modification updates PSRS. ACTING FOR OTHER JUDGES: absent individual judicial discretion, the magistrate may act on agreed pleas that may not be modified, occupational licenses, jail-chain agreed pleas, bond-forfeiture hearings, and competency hearings; another CCC judge may act for a judge in trial or absent (agreed pleas, setting/changing bonds, setting aside forfeitures, work release, jail chain, swearing witnesses); "Judges shall not sign attorney pay sheets from other courts." ODL: requests may be referred to the Magistrate; "Current proof of insurance is required"; original petition and order plus four copies; petitioner files the signed order with DPS. APPOINTED COUNSEL: fees per the Indigent Defense Plan (CCP art. 26.05); hourly claims require an itemized invoice; vouchers through the Indigent Defense System; under the Felony Court Appointed Attorney Wheel "The felony attorney must respond within 24 hours of the acceptance of the case or be replaced"; investigators must be licensed under Occupations Code ch. 1702 and translators under Government Code ch. 57. DECORUM: no head wear; no shorts (uniforms excepted); "Lawyers are required to wear suits when appearing in court for a jury trial or appropriate equivalent"; phones silent and unused while engaging the court; food only by leave; closed-top liquids only; attorneys stand when addressing the court and, with clients, when the verdict is read; objections directed to the judge or jury, never opposing counsel; no approaching or leaning on the bench without leave. Each judge may modify or waive decorum rules for their court, posted in the coordinator's office. PROFESSIONALISM: "Attorneys must notify the court when they will be later than five minutes for any contested proceeding or plea setting"; priority guidelines — contested proceedings in progress first; determinative contested settings over non-contested; criminal over non-criminal; jail over non-jail; severity by maximum punishment. MAGISTRATE: appointed per Gov't Code § 54.301; reappointment submissions by December 1 with unanimous approval of the CCC judges; hours 8:00 a.m.–4:30 p.m. weekdays, specifically available 12:00–1:30; referrals per § 54.306 (ODLs, contested competency, ALR hearings). LOCAL ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE: maintains written procedures; gives full effect to these rules per Gov't Code § 74.092; "elected by a majority vote of the county criminal court judges and the county courts-at-law judges."
Reviewer note: Operative mandatory-language provisions quoted verbatim from the registered document (OCR duplicate-word artifacts normalized: 'be be'->'be', 'on on'->'on'; 'probation violence' printed for 'probation violation' — quoted as corrected with this note); custody sha256 recorded in the registry ledger (registry-custody-ledger-2026-08-28.csv, doc 2613).
Establishes a Traffic Violations Bureau within the Clerk of the County Court under Fla. R. Traf. Ct. 6.100(a) (Burnstein, C.J., Nov. 1, 1988).
Approves the National Highway Safety Council Defensive Driving course as a school to which traffic courts may require attendance (Fla. R. Traf. Ct. 6.110(a)).
Designates the D.W.I. Counterattack School (Broward County Commission on Alcoholism) as an approved school for court-ordered attendance (Fla. R. Traf. Ct. 6.110(a)).