What is a district court?

Today, the term "district court" is a bit of a misnomer. In the early days of Texas, these courts covered multiple counties; the judge would get on his horse and "ride the district" from one county to the next. Gradually, Texas changed from a rural to an urban state. As the populations of its cities grew, the size of the "districts" began to shrink from multiple counties to single counties. Today, our most populated counties have many district courts. For example, there are fifteen district courts in Travis County: six criminal (with a new court to be established on January 1, 2008) and nine civil district courts (with a new one to be established on January 1, 2006).

The 299th is one of the six criminal district courts and its "district" covers all of Travis County. The court is physically located in the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center at 509 West 11th St in Austin. 

 What kind of cases does a district court handle?

District courts handle felony cases. These are the most serious criminal cases such as murder, robbery, sexual assault, burglary and certain controlled substance cases, both possession and delivery. These cases begin with a grand jury indictment and end with a trial by a jury of twelve. Upon conviction, the punishments range from the death penalty for capital murder offenses, to confinement for life in prison for first degree felonies and habitual criminals, to 180 days confinement in a state jail facility for possession of less than one ounce of specified controlled substances. In certain circumstances the sentence may be suspended and the defendant placed on community supervision (previously known as probation) so long as he/she obeys the terms and conditions of his/her release.