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Court Setting Guidelines — Harris County Criminal Courts at Law (ODonnell Consent Decree provisions) — posted on the court's own website — the court-procedure tier (standing procedures, policies, and preferences the court itself publishes), distinct from the TOPICs-registered local-rules tier (TRCP 3a registration applies to local rules). Operative requirements quoted verbatim; the posted document is the controlling text.
Texas > Harris County > County Criminal Courts at Law Nos. 1–16
IV. DEFINITIONS & ABBREVIATIONS 17. For purposes of this Consent Decree, the following terms shall have the stipulated meanings as follows: f. “Failure to appear” refers to any instance when a misdemeanor arrestee was scheduled to appear in court, the arrestee’s appearance was not waived, the arrestee did not physically appear in court, an arrest warrant issued because of the misdemeanor arrestee’s nonappearance, and the warrant either (1) was executed by placing the misdemeanor arrestee in custody, or (2) remained outstanding 30 days after issuance and no indication appears in the court record that the misdemeanor arrestee was prevented from appearing in court due to circumstances not in the misdemeanor arrestee’s control, as determined by a CCCL Judge. g. “First appearance” or “first setting” refers to the first scheduled court appearance for a misdemeanor arrestee in a particular case. (The term “misdemeanor arrestee” is definted in Section 17(k).) m. “Nonappearance” refers to when a misdemeanor arrestee does not appear for a scheduled court appearance and the misdemeanor arrestee’s appearance is not waived. An instance of late arrival may not be deemed a “nonappearance” unless the misdemeanor arrestee did not appear in court within one hour of the time set for the misdemeanor arrestee’s appearance or by the time the docket (if applicable) has concluded, whichever is later, and the misdemeanor arrestee’s appearance was not waived. For purposes of data collection, “nonappearance” is distinct from “failure to appear,” which is intended to capture a willful failure to attend court when required. h. “Regular setting” or “regular appearance” refers to any setting that is not a required appearance for a misdemeanor arrestee. (“Required appearance” is defined in Section 17(r).) i. “Required setting” or “required appearance” refers to trial settings, bond violation hearings, suppression hearings, or plea settings for any misdemeanor arrestee; or any pretrial hearing before a Harris County Criminal Court at Law Judge in a case where a misdemeanor arrestee has had prior sufficient notice, as required by Section 65(b) of the Consent Decree, that the appearance is required. 64. Open Hours Court: County and CCCL Judges must provide at least one weekly “Open Hours Court” to be held at the same time and on the same day each week, which may be rescheduled from time to time, to account for holidays or other court business. Any change to the Open Hours Court schedule must be advertised on the website as described in Section 57 at least 30 days in advance of the change becoming operative. The location of the Open Hours Court must be advertised as described in Sections 48(a) and 57. Any misdemeanor arrestee who has missed a court appearance can appear at Open Hours Court to reschedule the missed court appearance, subject to the other provisions in this Consent Decree. The County will ensure that assistant public defenders and/or private appointed counsel will be available at this docket to assist unrepresented individuals who appear. The purpose of Open Hours Court is to provide an opportunity for people to move forward with the business in their cases more efficiently and, to the extent permitted by other provisions of the Consent Decree, to do so without fear of going into custody for a prior nonappearance. This program must be advertised as described in Sections 48(a) and 57. 65. Waiver of appearance: a. Upon request by counsel, before or during a regular setting, a misdemeanor arrestee’s appearance at any regular setting shall be waived. b. Notwithstanding Section 65(a), a CCCL Judge will be authorized to convert any regular setting into a required appearance with 7 days’ written notice to the misdemeanor arrestee and/or her lawyer that the arrestee’s personal appearance in court is required and will not be waived. c. Notwithstanding any other provision in this Consent Decree, a CCCL Judge may, on his or her own motion, waive a misdemeanor arrestee’s appearance at any court appearance at which that CCCL Judge is presiding. 66. Rescheduling in advance of the court date: j. A misdemeanor arrestee who is not in custody may reschedule any regular appearance in advance of the court date by using the rescheduling procedures described in this Consent Decree. k. A misdemeanor arrestee who has not sought a waiver of appearance and is not in custody may reschedule through counsel any regular appearance in advance of the court date two times per case for any reason with no adverse consequences. If multiple open cases are consolidated onto a single schedule of court appearances, any rescheduling of any one of the open, consolidated cases will count toward the two permitted reschedulings for all of the open, consolidated cases. l. After a misdemeanor arrestee reschedules twice, any subsequent nonappearance at a regular setting may result in a warrant being issued if the CCCL Judge finds that notice of that setting was provided in accordance with this Consent Decree, and does not make a finding of good cause. 67. Process for issuing a warrant after nonappearance at a regular setting: a. If a misdemeanor arrestee does not appear at a regular setting, and the appearance was not waived in advance, the case will be rescheduled for the following week’s Open Hours Court. The County and the CCCL Judges will inform the misdemeanor arrestee of the new date and time for the court setting at which the misdemeanor arrestee’s presence is required using the notification procedures set forth in this Consent Decree. The misdemeanor arrestee may appear at the following week’s Open Hours Court or in the assigned court at any time between the date of the missed regular setting and close of business on the day of Open Hours Court of the week following the missed setting to reschedule the missed regular setting without arrest or other adverse consequences for a missed regular setting. b. If a misdemeanor arrestee does not appear at a regular setting, and does not appear in Open Hours Court or the assigned court before close of business on the day of Open Hours Court of the week following the missed appearance, a warrant for nonappearance may issue to the extent consistent with state law. 66. Rescheduling in advance of the court date: m. A misdemeanor arrestee who is not in custody may reschedule any regular appearance in advance of the court date by using the rescheduling procedures described in this Consent Decree. n. A misdemeanor arrestee who has not sought a waiver of appearance and is not in custody may reschedule through counsel any regular appearance in advance of the court date two times per case for any reason with no adverse consequences. If multiple open cases are consolidated onto a single schedule of court appearances, any rescheduling of any one of the open, consolidated cases will count toward the two permitted reschedulings for all of the open, consolidated cases. o. After a misdemeanor arrestee reschedules twice, any subsequent nonappearance at a regular setting may result in a warrant being issued if the CCCL Judge finds that notice of that setting was provided in accordance with this Consent Decree, and does not make a finding of good cause. 68. Process for issuing a warrant after nonappearance at a regular setting: a. If a misdemeanor arrestee does not appear at a regular setting, and the appearance was not waived in advance, the case will be rescheduled for the following week’s Open Hours Court. The County and the CCCL Judges will inform the misdemeanor arrestee of the new date and time for the court setting at which the misdemeanor arrestee’s presence is required using the notification procedures set forth in this Consent Decree. The misdemeanor arrestee may appear at the following week’s Open Hours Court or in the assigned court at any time between the date of the missed regular setting and close of business on the day of Open Hours Court of the week following the missed setting to reschedule the missed regular setting without arrest or other adverse consequences for a missed regular setting. b. If a misdemeanor arrestee does not appear at a regular setting, and does not appear in Open Hours Court or the assigned court before close of business on the day of Open Hours Court of the week following the missed appearance, a warrant for nonappearance may issue to the extent consistent with state law.
Reviewer note: Own-site document live-fetched by us 2026-08-22, byte-identical to the AJR-11 recon capture of 2026-08-21 (dual custody). Operative mandatory-language provisions quoted verbatim from the posted document; the full document (sha256 37a9d7ecc119…) is the controlling text. The posted document reproduces definitions and setting/appearance obligations from the federal ODonnell v. Harris County Consent Decree governing misdemeanor practice in the County Criminal Courts at Law, including the weekly Open Hours Court obligation. [RECOMPOSED 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P7, digital-layer lane): the full text of the registered file (sha256 37a9d7ecc119..., 3 pages) replaces the earlier 3,129-character abstract. Method: pypdfium2 text layer reflowed page-aware, cross-checked word-by-word against PyMuPDF (2 substantive difference(s), 2 page-furniture), owner-corpus candidate sentences 100% (14/14) matched, 0 running header/footer line(s) removed, no U+FFFD/U+FFFE/form-feed debris. NOT yet checked page by page against the render, so confidence is medium with an open re-verification task; flip to high when a reviewer has read every page against the PDF. benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p7-2026-09-21] [BY-EYE CHECK 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P11): every page of the registered file (sha256 37a9d7ecc119..., 3 page(s)) read against the rendered PDF; file-stamp, caption and signature-block defects of the text layer corrected from the render; confidence lifted to high. benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p11-2026-09-21]
6 verbatim requirements on case management in STEVEN P. DELUCA's division.
4 verbatim requirements on case management in LAUREN N. PEFFER's division.