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Your Appearance is Required



The law requires that you appear in court on your case. If you were issued a citation, your appearance is required within the first 14 consecutive days (10 business days) following the date of the citation. This is your deadline date to make your request to have your case set for court. Your request for a court date must be made in person, or received by mail prior to your deadline date. If you have been released on bond, your court date is set on the bond. Questions regarding your citation should be directed to the court clerk's office at 817-427-6700. TELEPHONE CALLS DO NOT CONSTITUTE AN APPEARANCE ON YOUR BEHALF.

 

Juvenile Appearances
Persons 16 years of age or younger MUST appear in person with a parent or legal guardian in open court. Contact the court clerk for more information. This is a state law and payment cannot be accepted prior to the court appearance before the Judge. DO NOT MAIL FINE PAYMENT.

Address Notification: Pursuant to Texas law, Article 45.057(j), Code of Criminal Procedure, you are being provided written notice of the following: (1) a child and a parent are required to appear before the Court and have an obligation to provide the Court in writing with the current address and residence of the child; (2) The obligation does not end when the child reaches the age of 17; (3) On or before the seventh day after the date the child or parent changes residence (any place where the child lives or resides for a period of at least 30 days), the child or parent shall notify the Court of the current address in the manner directed by the Court; (4) Failure to provide notice is a Class C misdemeanor and may result in arrest; (5) The obligation to provide notice terminates on discharge and satisfaction of the judgment or final disposition not requiring a finding of guilt.

Minor Alcohol and Tobacco Offenses
Minors under age 21 charged with an Alcohol offense must appear in open court before the Judge. Minors under age 18 charged with a Tobacco offense must appear in open court before the Judge.


Entering Your Plea
When you make your initial appearance, you must decide upon and enter a plea to the charge against you. By signing the citation in front of an officer, you did not plead guilty, but only signed a promise to appear in court. There are three possible pleas to a complaint:

  1. Guilty
  2. Nolo Contendere (No Contest) and
  3. Not Guilty

Your decision on what plea to enter is very important. We suggest that you read the following explanations of all three plea options prior to your appearance. Failure to appear once a court date is set will result in a warrant being issued for your arrest and additional fines being levied for failure to appear.

Plea of Guilty
By pleading guilty, you admit that you committed the act charged, that the act is prohibited by law, and that you have no defense for your actions. Before entering your plea of guilty, you need to understand the following:

  1. The State has the burden of proving its case against you. You have the right to hear the State's evidence and to require it to prove its case. If it does not, the law does not require you to prove anything.
  2. If you were involved in a traffic accident at the time of the alleged offense, your plea of guilty could be used later in a civil suit for damages as an admission by you that you were at fault or were the party responsible for the accident.

Plea of Nolo Contendere (No Contest)
A plea of nolo contendere, also known as no contest, simply means that you do not wish to contest the State's charge against you. Nolo contendere has the same legal effect as a guilty plea; but without the civil liability. You may also be able to talk to City Prosecutor about circumstances regarding the violation.

Plea of Not Guilty
A plea of not guilty means that you are informing the Court that you deny guilt and that the State must prove its charges against you. If you plead not guilty, your case will be scheduled for the next available trial date. You will need to decide whether to employ an attorney to represent you at trial. Only you or a licensed attorney may defend a case in court.

If you represent yourself, please be advised that this court is a court of record. All proceedings will be conducted according to the rules of criminal procedure and the rules of evidence. If you choose to represent yourself, you must be prepared. The court staff, bailiff, prosecuting attorney or judge cannot act as your attorney by providing legal advice or legal assistance in the presentation of your case.

Under our American system of justice, all persons are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty. On a plea of not guilty, a formal trial will be scheduled. As in a criminal trial, the State is required to prove the guilt of the defendant "beyond a reasonable doubt" of the offense charged in the complaint before a defendant can be found guilty by a judge or jury.