TDCAA Community
Plea by Phone

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https://tdcaa.infopop.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/157098965/m/7901054761

May 29, 2008, 15:27
Aggregation
Plea by Phone
Defendant is in the hospital and wants to make his guilty plea and accept his sentence without leaving the hospital (over the phone). If he signs a waiver under TCCP 1.14 for this process is it ok? What is the statutory authority?
May 29, 2008, 15:30
MP
Not sure about by phone. However we had a Defendant in our County who was costing big bucks in the hospital, so Judge, Prosecutor and Defense Attorney went to the hospital and did the plea,in order to get him out of our custody.
May 29, 2008, 18:23
DJC
1.14 is the statutory authority if you hand craft your documents, especially how it is done for the benefit of and at the request of the defendant, etc.
May 30, 2008, 11:10
Aggregation
Well, apparently you can do this by phone but all the parties attending via the phone must be in the county seat. You can also conduct court business outside the courthouse but that too must be in the county seat. See Stine v. State, 908 S.W.2d 429, 433 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995); Cruz v. Hinojosa, 12 S.W.3d 545, 549 (Tex. App. - San Antonio 1999).