Ellis County Courts at Law Document Filing Requirements

Applies to

Felony criminal case allocation

The judges must jointly submit a written plan to the District Clerk for dividing and equalizing felony criminal cases, considering the listed factors.

> Subject to final approval in the same manner as these Local Rules - the Judges of the 443 and 504h District Courts shall jointly agree upon and specify in writing to the Ellis County District Clerk how to divide up and equalize all pending and future-filed telony criminal cases to be assigned and heard by the 443 and 504th District Courts, taking into consideration: (i) the existence of multiple indictments pending against a particular defendant, (ii) future-filed indictments against the same defendant, (iii) the presence of co-defendants alleged to be involved in the same criminal episode, (iv) whether a defendant has a probation revocation pending, (v) future-filed probation revocations, (vi) the familiarity of either Judge with the particular facts of a given case, (vii) whether prior procedural or substantive legal matters of a material nature have been ruled upon by the Judge, (viii) minimizing the ability of non-judicial personnel from determining which court will preside over particular felony criminal cases, (ix) minimizing the opportunity for forum shopping; (x) the existence of judicial recusal or disqualification issues, and (xi) any other factors determined to be relevant in the sole discretion of the Judges.