TECHNOLOGY IN THE COURTROOM Hon. Bill Gravell, JP 3 Williamson County Thea Whalen, Executive Director, TJCTC

Transcription

1 TECHNOLOGY IN THE COURTROOM Hon. Bill Gravell, JP 3 Williamson County Thea Whalen, Executive Director, TJCTC Copyright All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without prior written permission of the Texas Justice Court Training Center unless copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Address inquiries to: Permissions, Texas Justice Court Training Center1701 Directors Blvd, Suite 530, Austin, TX,

2 TECHNOLOGY FUND HOW BEST TO USE & HOW BEST TO ACCESS

3 WHERE $ COMES FROM Criminal Court Costs in Justice Court A clerk of a justice court shall collect fees and costs under the Code of Criminal Procedure on conviction of a defendant as follows: (5) a fee for technology fund on a misdemeanor offense... $4; Sec Government Code

4 WHERE $ COMES FROM conviction includes deferred Clerk Treasurer Designated Justice Court Technology Fund Art (b) & (c) Code of Criminal Procedure

5 WHERE AUTHORITY COMES FROM Fund for Each Court Art County and District Courts Art Municipal Court Art Justice Court

6 HOW IT CAN BE USED ONLY used for: education and training for justice court judges and clerks regarding technological enhancements for justice courts Art (d)(1) Code of Criminal Procedure

7 HOW IT CAN BE USED ONLY used for: purchase and maintenance of technological enhancements for a justice court, including: (A) computer systems; (B) computer networks; (C) computer hardware; (D) computer software; (E) imaging systems; (F) electronic kiosks; (G) electronic ticket writers; and (H) docket management systems. Art (d)(2) Code of Criminal Procedure

8 HOW TO ACCESS Shall be administered by or under the direction of the commissioners court of the county Art (e) Code of Criminal Procedure

9 WILLIAMSON COUNTY JUSTICE OF THE PEACE PRECINCT 3 Key Metrics (2014): Central TX Georgetown, Round Rock 16,454 Criminal Cases Filed 1,050 Civil Cases Filed 20 th Busiest Justice Court in Texas Products: Odyssey 2012 Civil efiling: Summer 2014 Guide & File Document Scanning esignatures Judge Edition

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11 WILLIAMSON COUNTY JP#3 BEFORE ELECTRONIC TRANSFORMATION Documents received and signed All documents in CMS are Advanced Electronic Court Operations Citizens Attorneys Justice Partners Participants are electronically noticed on court orders and actions. Automated electronic tasks exist between court and clerk. searchable PDFs. Automated electronic tasks exist between clerk and court. Self-represented litigants can complete forms and electronically file online. Electronic interaction between court and juror regarding jury services and trial cancellation. Attorneys are electronically noticed on court orders and action. Automated electronic tasks exist between attorneys and CMS. Feature-rich services function natively on mobile devices. Automated electronic tasks exist between clerk and court. Courts can view electronic case information from many jurisdictions in the region. All Electronic All files in courtroom are electronic. All data entry and forms generated in courtroom. Processes between court and clerk are electronic. Only electronic files are maintained. Appeals are generated Processes between clerk and court are electronic. Court documents can be viewed online. Jurors can submit excusal and reschedule requests online. Some self-represented litigants can complete forms online. All new cases and subsequent filings are submitted Attorneys can submit proposed orders Court documents can be viewed online. All justice partners receive information from the court Justice partners can electronically retrieve appropriate case documents. Mostly Electronic Most files in courtroom are electronic. Some manual and paper processes still exist. Most cases are initiated Most subsequent filings are received E-filings are automatically updated in CMS. Citizens can look up case information online. Jurors can complete questionnaires online. Most filings are submitted Attorneys can look up case information online. Most justice partners receive information from the court Justice partners have appropriate elevated privileges to access secured case information. Some Electronic Some data entry and forms generated in the courtroom, but paper/manual process are still prevalent. Some documents are received All paper documents received or generated are scanned. General court information is available online. Payments can be made online and are automatically posted in the CMS. Some filings are submitted Some justice partners receive information from the court Manual Paper files in courtroom. Manual forms generated in courtroom. All signatures on paper. All case filings are received on paper and docketed manually. All case files are maintained on paper. Copies of court records are available at the courthouse. Payments are mostly made in person by cash or check. Jury service is facilitated through paper and mail. Copies of court records are available at the courthouse. Attorneys hand-deliver or use couriers to file documents with the court. Information is provided to justice partners mostly by exchanging paper documents. Case information from other court jurisdictions must be requested manually. Dec 2013

12 WILLIAMSON COUNTY JP#3 BEFORE ELECTRONIC TRANSFORMATION Documents received and signed All documents in CMS are Advanced Electronic Court Operations Citizens Attorneys Justice Partners Participants are electronically noticed on court orders and actions. Automated electronic tasks exist between court and clerk. searchable PDFs. Automated electronic tasks exist between clerk and court. Self-represented litigants can complete forms and electronically file online. Electronic interaction between court and juror regarding jury services and trial cancellation. Attorneys are electronically noticed on court orders and action. Automated electronic tasks exist between attorneys and CMS. Feature-rich services function natively on mobile devices. Automated electronic tasks exist between clerk and court. Courts can view electronic case information from many jurisdictions in the region. All Electronic All files in courtroom are electronic. All data entry and forms generated in courtroom. Processes between court and clerk are electronic. Only electronic files are maintained. Appeals are generated Processes between clerk and court are electronic. Court documents can be viewed online. Jurors can submit excusal and reschedule requests online. Some self-represented litigants can complete forms online. All new cases and subsequent filings are submitted Attorneys can submit proposed orders Court documents can be viewed online. All justice partners receive information from the court Justice partners can electronically retrieve appropriate case documents. Mostly Electronic Most files in courtroom are electronic. Some manual and paper processes still exist. Most cases are initiated Most subsequent filings are received E-filings are automatically updated in CMS. Citizens can look up case information online. Jurors can complete questionnaires online. Most filings are submitted Attorneys can look up case information online. Most justice partners receive information from the court Justice partners have appropriate elevated privileges to access secured case information. Some Electronic Some data entry and forms generated in the courtroom, but paper/manual process are still prevalent. Some documents are received All paper documents received or generated are scanned. General court information is available online. Payments can be made online and are automatically posted in the CMS. Some filings are submitted Some justice partners receive information from the court Manual Paper files in courtroom. Manual forms generated in courtroom. All signatures on paper. All case filings are received on paper and docketed manually. All case files are maintained on paper. Copies of court records are available at the courthouse. Payments are mostly made in person by cash or check. Jury service is facilitated through paper and mail. Copies of court records are available at the courthouse. Attorneys hand-deliver or use couriers to file documents with the court. Information is provided to justice partners mostly by exchanging paper documents. Case information from other court jurisdictions must be requested manually. June 2016

13 WILLIAMSON COUNTY JUSTICE OF THE PEACE PRECINCT #3 County government is shrinking. We have to look for inventive solutions to increase output without adding staff while improving with our customer service Benefits: Efficiencies gained in Court (from cases per session to 100) Process time for cases decreasing from 20 minutes 10 minutes $650,000 Annual Savings realized by implementing paperless office and increasing efficiencies In the past we had 2 jury trials per day and today we can have 6 trials per day. (Tyler Jury Wheel)

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17 SOCIAL MEDIA USE IN COURT & ADMISSIBILITY

18 WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA

19 WHEN COULD YOU SEE IT IN COURT? Anywhere! Affects civil an criminal cases May be presented by any party, including the prosecution

20 The Rules of Evidence do not update like an app -Josh Gilliand, The Admissibility of Social Media, Litigation News, ABA May be trust issues with social media, but just apply evidence principles: Relevant * Authentic * Unfair Prejudice * Hearsay

21 FEDERAL STANDARD FOR ADMISSIBILITY Admitted Facebook and YouTube videos through the business records exception. That allowed them to be self-authenticating. United States v Hassan, 742 F.3d 104 (4 th Cir. Feb. 4, 2014)

22 STATE OF MARYLAND High standard that the person entering the evidence show that the post ARE authentic. May need to have the hard drive od the creator s computer or get info subpoenaed from the site itself.

23 STATE OF MISSISSIPPI Considered it not hearsay because it was not a statement. Facebook s automatic notification features, which cause the messages to be sent within Facebook and sent via notification, are not statements. Smith v. State, 2013 Miss. App. LEXIS 318 (Miss. App. June 4, 2013).

24 STATE OF TEXAS Need some evidence to prove the social media is not fraudulent. As long as a jury could reasonably find the evidence authentic. Campbell v. State, 382 S.W.3d 545, (Tex. App. Austin 2016)

25 STATE OF DELAWARE Adopted the Texas approach in Parker v. State of Delaware, No. 38, 2013 (Del. Feb 5, 2014)

26 WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU? Criminal apply the Texas standard from Campbell Civil Rules of Evidence do not apply, but should be ready for objections and to apply the principles in Campbell if necessary.

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