Williamson County Misdemeanor Procedure
When you are arrested for a misdemeanor in Williamson County, you might be taken to the local police department (e.g. Round Rock, Cedar Park, Leander) but you will usually be taken to the Williamson County Jail in Georgetown. Once there, you will need to sit until you can see a magistrate. Magistration is the procedure wherein a judge tells you what your rights are, including the rights to remain silent and not give a statement to the police and the right to have an attorney appointed if you are indigent. The magistrate will also set a bond for you. Misdemeanor bonds range from about $500 to $3000, in general. Since the magistrates in Williamson County only come in once a day in the morning, if you are arrested after about 10:00 am, you will have to spend the night in jail.
If you have been arrested on an outstanding warrant, the bond will already be set and you only need to be magistrated. If you have an attorney, he or she can have you sign a waiver of magistration. In this document, you are not waiving your rights, just the necessity of having the magistrate read them to you. Most of the time, if you know you have a warrant outstanding, you should hire an attorney and a bondsman and arrange a "walk-through" where you are booked into jail and immediately back out again, as the bond and waiver of magistration are presented with you at the time of your surrender.
Upon your release, you will be given a document telling you when to come to court. There are three misdemeanor courts in Williamson County: County Courts at Law One, Two and Three. These courts' "First Appearance" dockets are usually on Wednesday mornings at 8:30. The purpose of this court hearing is to determine if you are going to plead guilty without an attorney, or if you wish to plead not guilty and either hire an attorney or attempt to represent yourself in a contested case. Should you plead guilty without an attorney, you will be allowed to speak with a prosecutor who will tell you what your punishment will be. This is not a trial and you are not going to be able to tell the prosecutor that you are not really guilty. You are simply telling him or her that you ARE guilty and that you will accept whatever punishment they think is appropriate. Whatever legal or factual defenses that you may have or think you have may not be raised here.
BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT PLEADING GUILTY AND EXPECTING TO BE ABLE TO CHANGE YOUR MIND IF THE PLEA OFFER IS TOO HARSH OR THE JUDGE INCREASES THE PUNISHMENT. In misdemeanor cases, the judge is not required to let you withdraw your plea and is not legally bound to follow any plea agreement. Most judges will either follow a plea bargain or allow you to withdraw your plea, but not all of them.
At First Appearance, if you tell the judge that you wish to plead not guilty or wish to speak to an attorney, he or she will reset your case to give you time to do so. If you show up at the next hearing without having made an attempt to hire an attorney, the judge may be peeved at you, so make the attempt at least. There are many fine attorneys in Williamson County, myself included, and fees will vary according to the complexity of the case and the experience of the attorney. If you want me to tell you why you need a lawyer, go to my page "Why You Need A Lawyer" and read all about it.
As soon as you hire an attorney, whether before or after the First Appearance date, the case will be reset for Announcement. Once that happens, First Appearance goes away and you are no longer required to attend. Think about it: all they are really going to ask you at First Appearance is whether you are going to represent yourself or hire an attorney. Once you have hired an attorney, the question has been answered and there is no point to attending First Appearance anymore.
The next setting will be an Announcement setting. Your attorney is required to "announce" to the court what is going to happen to the case. Is it going to trial? Will there be a plea bargain? Is the case to be dismissed? Will there be some kind of special hearing? Your attorney may either make his announcement to the court prior to the Announcement date, or you and he may attend together. If your attorney does not make the announcement beforehand, you are required to attend this hearing. As for me, I usually prefer to make the announcement beforehand so that you are not required to miss work.
Keep in mind that whatever is '"announced" at Announcement can be changed. If, for instance, you and your attorney have determined that your chances at trial are not very good, but the plea offer is not acceptable, he or she may set the case for trial and continue to negotiate a plea settlement. Once an agreement is reached, the case can be moved to the "plea" docket. Or if the prosecutor has indicated that the case will be dismissed, your attorney may put it on the "plea" docket just to keep it off the trial docket. The court coordinators are generally very understanding about these things, at least for those of us who don't abuse their congeniality.
I'm not going to go into all of the trial or special hearing scenarios. That would take a book. If you have gotten to this point, your attorney will explain what comes next.
You may contact me through this link or call me at the number below to discuss your case and schedule your free consultation.
(This message is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. Each case is different and you should talk to an attorney of your choosing.)
