Judge J. Patrick (Pat) Atkins

Applies to

Plea documents

Attorneys scheduling a plea must report to the Court Administrator upon arrival and promptly complete, obtain execution of, and deliver the required plea documents to Court staff.

Applies to

Disposition announcement

At the Disposition docket, the State and Defense must announce the case’s resolution status, discovery status, negotiation status, and whether a trial setting or further resolution efforts are needed.

Applies to

Reset form

Disposition reset forms must be signed by the State’s attorney, defense counsel, and the defendant.

The witness list must be submitted to the court reporter no later than when the case is called for trial.

Plea documents may be submitted no earlier than the first business day of the week and must be submitted by 10:30 a.m. on status-docket day or by the case’s scheduled time and date.

Within 30 days after all parties have answered and/or appeared, the parties must confer and submit an agreed proposed scheduling order or trial date to the Court Administrator.

Plea papers must use Court-approved forms, which may not be altered or reformatted, including as to font style, font size, or spacing.

Attorneys must use unmodified Court-approved forms in all cases and regularly check the County Courts at Law website to ensure they are using current forms.

A proposed order must be a separate instrument unless the entire motion, order, signature lines, and certificate of service fit on one page.

Status-docket resets requested within the 180-day period may be for no more than four weeks.

Defense counsel may request a status-docket reset by telephone, email, facsimile, or in person by 4:00 p.m. on the preceding business day.

A reset requested on the status-docket date must be presented to the Court in person; the defendant need not attend.