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The plan under Family Code § 54.012 adopted by the 271st District Court and County Courts at Law Nos. 1 and 2 for conducting juvenile detention hearings as remote proceedings, with participant duties for cross-examination, camera views and the handling of evidence.
Applies to juvenile detention hearings conducted remotely in the 271st District Court and County Courts at Law Nos. 1 and 2.
REMOTE DETENTION HEARING PROCEDURES I. Plan Adoption In accordance with Texas Family Code 54.012, the 271st Judicial District (271st District Court; Wise County Court at Law 1; Wise County Court at Law 2) adopts the following plan to conduct detention hearings as remote proceedings. II. Definitions A. Detention hearings have the same meaning, scope, and requirements listed in Section 54.01 of the Texas Family Code. B. Remote Proceeding means a proceeding in which one or more of the participants, including a judge, party, attorney, witness, court reporter, or other individual, attends the proceeding remotely through the use of technology and the Internet, including through teleconferencing or video conferencing. III. Procedures for Detention Hearings Conducted as a Remote Proceeding A. The court may, in its discretion, proceed with remote detention hearings, pursuant to Section 54.01(a) of the Texas Family Code. Consistent with constitutional requirements, the court may allow or require any party, attorney, witness, or court reporter, and may allow any party or parties, to participate in a detention hearing as a remote proceeding. B. The parties to the detention hearing shall have the opportunity to cross-examine any witnesses called during the hearing. C. The camera of any party or witness who provides testimony must provide an unobstructed view of the party or witness providing testimony. An unobstructed view, for the purposes of this plan, means that the individual can be clearly seen, identified, and heard without any barrier other than a clean camera lens. Consistent with constitutional confrontation requirements, if a party or witness is not on camera, or cannot be clearly seen, the Court will not allow the person to testify or continue to testify unless the witness complies with the requirement of an unobstructed view. D. Presentation and retention of physical evidence during remote proceeding detention hearings will be conducted as follows: 1. Any physical evidence offered at a remote proceeding detention hearing must be displayed so that the court, attorneys, parties, and witness can view it simultaneously. 2. When digital copies of physical evidence can be prepared, such as audio/video recordings, documents, or images, the digital copies should be emailed to the court, the court reporter and to counsel for the parties before the hearing if practicable. Current directory of court personnel is as follows: 271st District Court — Court Coordinator Sandy McDaniel, sandy.mcdaniel@co.wise.tx.us; Court Reporter Denise Hill, denise.hill@co.wise.tx.us Wise County Court at Law 1 — Court Coordinator Debbye Barnett, debbye.barnett@co.wise.tx.us; Court Reporter Amberly Johnson, amberly.johnson@co.wise.tx.us Wise County Court at Law 2 — Court Coordinator Anna Sosa, anna.sosa@co.wise.tx.us; Court Reporter Lori Lowe, lori.lowe@co.wise.tx.us 3. Physical evidence which cannot be rendered in digital form shall be tendered to the court no later than 7 days after the remote proceeding if the party offering the evidence is not present in the court when it is offered. IV. Submission to Office of Court Administration In accordance with Texas Family Code 54.012, this plan was submitted to the Texas Office of Court Administration (OCA) on November 27, 2023 by posting on: https://www.txcourts.gov/rules-forms/local-rules-forms-and-standing-orders/ [signature] Judge Brock Smith, 271st District Court [signature] Judge Greg Lowery, Wise County Court at Law 1 [signature] Judge Dana Manoushagian, Wise County Court at Law 2
REMOTE DETENTION HEARING PROCEDURES I. Plan Adoption In accordance with Texas Family Code 54.012, the 271st Judicial District (271st District Court; Wise County Court at Law 1; Wise County Court at Law 2) adopts the following plan to conduct detention hearings as remote proceedings. II. Definitions A. Detention hearings have the same meaning, scope, and requirements listed in Section 54.01 of the
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-06 from the TOPICs custody scan (read in full). Court-less division_family juvenile remote-hearing plan (Denton 1582 precedent). [TRANSCRIBED BY EYE 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P12): every page of the registered file (sha256 34d3076f135f..., 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]
3 verbatim requirements on remote appearances in CALEB S. JOHNSTON's division.
6 verbatim requirements on remote appearances in MICHAEL G. KAPLAN's division.