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The Jefferson County district courts’ remote-hearing orders and plan for detention and related proceedings, authorizing and governing remote (Zoom/videoconference) appearances for detention and related hearings, including the platform, notice, and participation requirements.
Texas > Jefferson County > the district courts — detention and related remote proceedings.
REMOTE HEARING ORDERS AND PLAN FOR DETENTION AND RELATED HEARINGS FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE CASES IN THE 279TH AND 317TH DISTRICT COURTS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS Contact the court coordinators for the 279th or 317th District Courts if you believe any counsel, his or her client(s), a pro se litigant, any witness, and interpreter, or any other participant cannot participate in a court hearing remotely. Attempt to have parents/guardians/custodians present at the hearing. During the remote hearing, an unobstructed view of any party or witness who provides testimony will be provided. Nothing in this Order negates the mandates of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure pertaining to the Filing and Serving of Pleadings and Motions and the Appearances at Court Proceedings. The Courtroom will be closed for these proceedings. Zoom Platform: For Remote Hearings, the attorney, parties, witnesses, probation staff, and other attendees may "appear at" the video hearing through the use of the Zoom application by using a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, IPad, or smartphone which has video and audio capability. When the Juvenile Court is the host of a hearing, there is no cost to attendees to join in the Zoom hearing. Online Demeanor: Juvenile Court shall be officially in session during Remote Hearings. Remote Hearings are still considered to be courtroom proceedings. Dress, speak, and act accordingly. Attendee Information and Presentation of Witnesses by Zoom: Prior to all Remote Hearings, each party shall have compiled the full names, email addresses, and phone numbers of, as applicable, their clients, the clients' parents/guardians/custodians, all potential attendees, and all witnesses they intend to call and shall have forwarded the Zoom invite to those persons. No one will be allowed to pass the functional equivalent of notes by electronic means to a witness during the time that witness is testifying. Other than those being used by an attorney in the case, no electronic devices, cell phones, or any internet-capable devices other than the one being used for the Zoom hearing shall be on during the Zoom hearing. Attorneys may have appropriate computer programs open to enable the attorney to present exhibits via Zoom, conduct legal research, communicate with staff, and the like. No other attendee shall have any other program or application running other than zoom during the Zoom hearing unless that attendee receives prior permission from the Court. Recording of Remote Hearings: Unless done by the Court or under the direction of the Court, Remote Hearings, or any portion thereof, may not be recorded or reproduced in any way, including but not limited to a full or partial video recording, a full or partial sound recording, or a screenshot. Attorneys are ordered to advise their witnesses and attendees of this Court Order. A violation of this Order may be punishable by contempt. The Court shall/may make a recording of the proceedings. The recordings shall be preserved until the earlier of: 1. The 91st day after the date on which the recording is made if the child is alleged to have engaged in conduct constituting a misdemeanor; 2. The 120th day after the date on which the recording is made if the child is alleged to have engaged in conduct constituting a felony; or 3. The date on which the adjudication hearing ends. If a case is disposed of remotely the Court provides the following orders and plans: For Adjudication/Modifications/Dispositions: The District Attorney will sign all needed plea paperwork (Stipulation of Evidence, Discovery Stipulation, Waiver of Ten Days Preparation,) at least one day prior to court hearing and give to Probation Department. The Probation Department will email Analysis of the Factors, Petition and all plea paperwork (Stipulation of Evidence, Discovery Stipulation, Waiver of Ten Days Preparation, and Statutory Warnings) to the Judge at least one day prior to Court Hearing. The Probation Department will provide the Analysis of the Factors, signed plea paperwork (Stipulation of Evidence, Discovery Stipulation, Waiver of Ten Days Preparation, and Statutory Warnings) to Respondent's Counsel at the time of Court. Upon receiving signed paperwork from Respondent's Attorney it will be emailed to both District Attorney and Judge and Court Administrator. Evidence for Remote Hearings: If you intend to offer any exhibits during the hearing, note the following: 1. Move to admit the Exhibit. 2. Unless you did so previously, email the Exhibit to: Opposing Counsel, the Judge and the Court Administrator 3. In the subject line of the email, include: The Respondent's initials, and the cause number. 4. Format of Exhibits: Documents: PDF Audio and Video files: Files may not exceed 5GB. A list of valid extensions that these files must be submitted in are: .avi, .wmv, .wav, .mpg, .mid, .asf, .mpeg, .mpl, .mp2, .mp3, .mp4, .mp4v, .mpg, .ogg, .oga, .ogv, .webm. If an exhibit has any of those extensions, the sponsoring party is not required to convert it to a .mp3 or .mp4 file. If it does not have any of those extensions, the sponsoring party shall convert it to an acceptable format. Nothing other than what is offered as an Exhibit may be included on the audio or video media. Physical evidence may be submitted via a photograph. This Court will NOT require parties to submit/divulge their proposed Exhibits in advance of trial. However, submission of evidence via Zoom will be more time consuming than it would be "live". The parties are encouraged to work together prior to the hearing with regard to the submission of Exhibits. Signed March 18, 2024 [handwritten]. [signature] Judge Randy Shelton, 279th District Court [signature] Judge Gordon Friesz, 317th District Court
REMOTE HEARING ORDERS AND PLAN FOR DETENTION AND RELATED HEARINGS FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE CASES IN THE 279TH AND 317TH DISTRICT COURTS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, TEXAS Contact the court coordinators for the 279th or 317th District Courts if you believe any counsel, his or her client(s), a pro se litigant, any witness, and interpreter, or any other participant cannot participate in a court hearing remotely.
Reviewer note: Image-only registration (3 pages) in custody, read through the vision lane; summarized (remote-detention practice). Composed benchpath-ajr2-jefferson. [TRANSCRIBED BY EYE 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P12): every page of the registered file (sha256 4f28e9563ddb..., 3 page(s), image-only scan; the OCR layer used as a typing base and corrected word by word from the page) read against the rendered file; verbatim, source typos kept, stamps/signatures bracketed; the earlier abstract replaced by the full instrument; confidence high. benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p12-2026-09-21]
Standing order of the 109th Judicial District Court for every pending or later-filed case in Andrews, Winkler and Crane Counties: any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any form of artificial intelligence for legal research or drafting in a case must, before using AI-generated information in a court submission or proceeding, sign and submit the court's certification form stating that all language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analysis created or contributed to by generative AI were verified as accurate by a human through traditional (non-AI) legal sources, and acknowledging responsibility and potential sanctions for their or their co-counsel's failure to comply. Effective immediately; in effect until rescinded or replaced.
Standing order of the 109th Judicial District Court for every pending or later-filed case in Andrews, Winkler and Crane Counties: any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any form of artificial intelligence for legal research or drafting in a case must, before using AI-generated information in a court submission or proceeding, sign and submit the court's certification form stating that all language, quotations, sources, citations, arguments and legal analysis created or contributed to by generative AI were verified as accurate by a human through traditional (non-AI) legal sources, and acknowledging responsibility and potential sanctions for their or their co-counsel's failure to comply. Effective immediately; in effect until rescinded or replaced.