2019 Mr. Casey Kennedy County and District Director of Information - - PDF document

JURY SELECTION

Case Processing

Child Support

PASSPORTS

ADOPTION

Records Management

FAMILY LAW

Dockets PROBATE

Bonds BOND FORFEITURE

VITAL STATISTICS

Recording Fees

FEES

CIVIL PROCESS

Capias JUVENILE LAW

JUDGE’S DOCKET COURT DOCKET

Foreign Judgements Minutes

Writs

Warrants

2019 County and District Clerks’ Association of Texas Fall Education Conference

• Sept. 16-18, 2019

Sheraton, Georgetown

2019 CDCAT Fall Conference Binder Graphics 3.indd 6 8/26/19 2:09 PM

eFiling Criminal Cases

Wednesday, September 18, 2019 10 a.m.–Noon

• Mr. Casey Kennedy

Director of Information Services Office of Court Administration

With the final deadline looming for all counties not currently under mandatory criminal eFiling, Mr. Kennedy will provide an update of what the Judicial Committee on Information Technology (JCIT) and the eFiling vendor are doing to ensure a smooth

• transition. Topics will include eFiling rules, JCIT

standards and standardized process for expunging records.

• Mr. Casey Kennedy, Director for Information

Services, Office of Court Administration Casey Kennedy joined the Office of Court Administration (OCA) as the director

• f

information services in 2010. His team provides direct IT support for the Texas Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals, the 14 intermediate appellate courts and several judicial branch state

• agencies. Kennedy also manages the statewide IT

projects for the electronic filing of court documents (eFile Texas) and the electronic access of court records (Re:SearchTX). Kennedy is also the lead OCA staff for the Judicial Committee on Information Technology (JCIT). The committee is appointed by the Texas Supreme Court and makes recommendations and sets standards for court technology in Texas. Kennedy is currently the president of the Court Information Technology Officer Consortium, a national organization of Court IT professionals. He holds a bachelor’s in computer science from The University of Texas at Austin.

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Criminal eFiling Update

Casey Kennedy – Director, Information Services Office of Court Administration

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

What I’ll Talk About

• Where are we now?
• JCIT Standards
• Expunctions and Non-Disclosures

BONUS MATERIAL FOR MAKING IT TO THE END OF THE CONFERENCE

• Juvenile Cases
• Re:SearchTX relationship to criminal eFiling
• eFiling 2.0

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Have a Question?

• Ask it!
• If you think of one later, email me!

casey.kennedy@txcourts.gov

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Where are we now?

The Court of Criminal Appeals mandated criminal eFiling with the same rollout cadence as Civil. Of the 254 counties:

• 119 are live and mandatory
• 109 are live but aren’t mandatory until 1/1/20
• 28 are working to be live in time for the mandate on 1/1/20

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

The Mandate

• eFiling required from all attorneys on subsequent filings in a

case.

• Charging instruments aren’t required but are definitely

allowed.

• If your DA/CA is already sending things electronically –

DON’T BREAK IT! Fill out a form instead!

• If you wish to use eFileTexas for criminal case initiation and

are integrated with eFile, you’re CMS integration needs to adjust to accommodate the additional fields.

• Pro Se filers, Judges, are not required to eFile but highly

encouraged

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

What can be filed?

• EVERYTHING – unless:
• Being presented in camera to the court
• Anything sealed
• Anything restricted by law or court order
• Formatting controlled by Rule 2.2 (Statewide Criminal Rules)
• Searchable PDF (OCR if scanned)
• 8.5 x 11
• Not locked or other goofy security or packaging
• Complies with JCIT Tech Standards

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

JCIT Technology Standards

• Updated annually
• Has the eFiling codes,

additional service available, what registered users can see in re:SearchTX

• Prescribes reasons

why clerks can return for correction

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

JCIT Technology Standards

• If you see something that needs to change, email me!
• Include:
• What you want to change
• Cite to statute that allows for that fee (if you’re adding an additiontal

service)

• Explanation on why the filing type or case type can’t be covered by
• ne of the “catch alls”
• The standards are the maximum set – if you don’t want to

make a code available to your filers, feel free to turn it off.

• Don’t be offended if change doesn’t happen quickly.
• Remember court only codes are available!

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Expunctions and Non-Disclosures

Today – once the order granting an expunction/non-disclosure – it gets sent to various groups (like DPS) Like the civil side, there are three ways to do this:

• 1. eFile Admin Tool
• 2. Email the order granting (NOT the notice of a hearing) to
• caexpunctions@txcourts.gov
• 3. Send it snail mail:

OCA Legal Division 205 W. 14th Street, Suite 600 Austin, TX 78701

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Expunctions and Non-Disclosures

• Fastest way is in eFile.
• If emailed or snail mailed, OCA will purge it within 30 days of

receipt (as required by the notice)

• Purging removes the ability for people to eFile into that case
• Purging removes the ability for all to see the case or its

documents on re:SearchTX

• Be sure you purge your systems too!
• Please don’t fax it in, it is 2019 

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

BONUS MATERIAL

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Juvenile Cases

• These are civil cases typically heard by criminal courts.
• Originally left out of the civil mandate because they were

typically stored in the criminal side of CMS.

• Supreme Court has asked JCIT to look at Juvenile Cases and

what a mandate would look like.

• First step is to add codes to the standards that would allow

Juvenile to be permissive.

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Juvenile Cases

• DRAFT that Standards Committee considering, any changes?

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Juvenile Cases

• Once codes are recommended and approved by the high

courts, it’ll be permissive to all courts (all that has to be done is to configure the code)

• After a soak, JCIT will make adjustments, possibly

recommend mandatory to the Supreme Court along with timelines.

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Re:SearchTX and Criminal Filings

• Currently NO criminal cases are on re:SearchTX for

registered user consumption.

• CCA asked JCIT to explore the possibility of putting criminal

filings on re:SearchTX

• JCIT instantiated a subcommittee made up of attorneys

(both prosecuting and defense), clerks, judges, and SRL advocates to discuss

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Re:SearchTX and Criminal Filings

• Subcommittee is actively meeting and expect to present

recommendations at a future JCIT meeting.

• If JCIT were to adopt the recommendations, they’d be sent

along to the Court of Criminal Appeals

• From there, the CCA can decide to allow criminal eFilings

into re:SearchTX

• Keep “Court Speed” in mind!

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

EFileTexas 2.0

• OCA’s eFiling contract (which comprises eFileTexas,

re:SearchTX, Guide and File, and redaction) ends on 8/31/2021.

• The original contract signed in 2012 is fully extended and no

more extensions are available.

• These pieces must go through the procurement process and

the State of Texas Major Information Resources Project process.

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

EFileTexas 2.0

• OCA has engaged a third-party to provide procurement
• assistance. They are in the process of gathering

requirements from all stakeholder groups.

• Goal is to have a contract in place in Sept/Oct of 2020.
• The remaining time would be to transition to the new

system in the event the new eFiling vendor is not Tyler.

OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

Questions?

Casey Kennedy casey.kennedy@txcourts.gov 512.463.1603