Chapter 3 Flashcards
Difference between Criminal and Civil Cases
Criminal Case
- right to jury trial
- right to court appointed attorney
- protection under 5th amendment if individual
- Beyond reasonable doubt to convict
- unanimous jury vote to convict
- Bifactoral court
- one for guilt innocence
- one for punishment
- multiple judges in Appellate court
Civil Case
- no right to jury trial
- preponderance of evidence to convict (more likely than not)
- majority jury vote to convict
- no right to an attorney
- no protection under 5th amendment
- one trial court
- one judge in Appellate court
4 stages of an Appeal once the Appellate gives a notice of Appeal to the Appellate court
- Appellate files brief on how trial court made mistakes
- Appellee files brief stating how appellate is wrong
- Each party gives 30min oral argument can ask questions
- Decision comes months later
Typical state court system vs Texas Court System?
Typical State
- one trial court
- two appellate courts
Texas
-6 tiers of trial court
3 things that Tier 1 of Texas Court System Involves?
Municipal Courts
Justice of Peace Courts
Small claims Courts
Municipal Courts Tier 1 - Texas Court System
- one in each town
- rules for judge vary by town
- judge appointed by city officials
- jurisdiction ONLY within city limits
- small city ordinances like traffic violations, loud noises, building code violations
- criminal cases up to Class C mistdemeanor
- civil cases up to 10,000
- NOT court of record (but some are)
- appeals go to Trial denovo
Justice of Peace Court Tier 1 - Texas Court System
- created by Texas Consitution
- judge jurisdiction outside city limits
- judge serves precincts not towns
- elected partisian election
- 4 yr term
- 18 yr old and U.S. citizen qualification (don’t have to be attorney)
- hear city ordinance cases like loud noises, traffic violations, building code violations
- criminal cases up to class C mistdemeanor
- civil cases up to 10,000
- not court of record
- appeals go to trial denovo
judge can have other duties
- marry people
- coroner (pronounce people dead)
- set bonds for criminals
Small Claims Court Tier 1 - Texas Court System
- created by statutory law (legislature)
- Texas Law merges small claims court with Justice of Peace Court
- same judge as Justice as Peace Court
- NO Criminal Jurisdiction
- civil cases up to 10,000
- not court of record so appeals go to trial denovo
3 things that Tier 2 of Texas Court System Involves?
County Court
Country Court at law
District Court
County Court Tier 2 - Texas Court System
- Created by Texas Constitution
- 1 per county
-Class A and Class B misdemmeanors
DWI, MIP
-Civil Cases $200-1000
-Courts can specialize
probate jurisdiction
family law
civil/criminal ONLY
- 4 yr term
- partisian election
- elected by city officials
-can be appellate court (trial denovo from tier 1)
County Court at Law Tier 2 - Texas Court System
- Created by Statutory law
- created because County court didn’t have enough jurisdiction
- is a state court
- can cross county lines
-civil cases $250-$100,000
-Class A and Class mistdemeanor
MIP, DWI
-can be Appellate Court (trial denovo from tier 1)
-can turn into a special court
family jurisdiction, only civil, only criminal
depends on county
District Court Tier 2 - Texas Court System
- Created by Constitution
- ONLY a trial court
- can be multiple in one county or one per county
- Multi-million dolla Civil cases (make up 2/3)
- family law civil cases
- election contest civil cases
- title land civil cases
- felony Criminal cases (make up 1/3)
- NOT appellate court
- appeals go to Court of Appeals (except for Capital murder trials with death penalty)
- capital murder appeals w/death penalty to Court of Criminal Appeals
What are the Tier 3 and Tier 4 courts?
TRUE appellate courts
Court of Appeals (1st level)
Supreme Court (2nd level)
Court of Criminal Appeals (3rd level)
Judge Qualifications of County Court Tier 2 - Texas Court System?
- 4 yr term
- partisian election
- elected by city officials
- don’t have to be attorney to be judge
Judge Qualifications of County Court at Law Tier 2 - Texas Court System?
- 4 yr term
- partisian election
- elected by County
- have to have LAW DEGREE
- lived in county for two years
- practice law or be judge for past 4 yrs
Judge Qualifications of District Court Tier 2 - Texas Court System
- 4 yr term
- partisian election
- elected by people of District
- Resident of district for more than 2 years
