A big change in the way we do felony judgments was approved by the Legislature. Beginning Sept. 1, all judgments must use the forms created by the Office of Court Administration. For a look at those forms or to download, go to the OCA website link.

Does your county already use these forms? Any problems?

While I have generally followed the OCA format and have certainly included the SID and Tracking#, I also sought to make some improvements in the standardized forms. Guess those are out the window now, or can you still vary some? Apparently new forms are expected by October 1, so everyone will need to be aware of any changes made then. Furthermore, our CSCDs prepare the judgments where the sentence is not imposed or guilt is not adjudicated. My guess they will require quite a bit of my assistance in modifying their forms. Will the judges really read each form to see if it complies before signing?

We have used them for awhile, but I did make anumber of changes to them myself. Seems to me they could use a lot of work, but they are a great place to start. Anyone know who is doing the upadating, inthe event they might be open to some constructive suggestions?

Does it strike anyone else as humorous that the new forms are required as of September 1--and OCA is completely revising them and will have them online and ready by October.

Well, to be fair, the site also tells you that you can continue using the current forms with any alterations needed to keep up with the law. It also suggests that enforcement of this new provision might be a bit lenient in the first year or so to give everyone a chance to get on board.

I just noticed that the OCA now says that the new forms will not be ready until November.

http://www.courts.state.tx.us/oca/FelonyForms/index.asp

FYI, I've heard that the standardized forms may NOT include one for probated/deferred cases due to the non-standard terms and conditions of many of those cases. So don't throw away all your old stuff yet.

I've heard the same and have expressed my opposition to dropping probation judgments. The OCA is being very open-minded about the issue. I am confident they will continue to recognize that we should not discriminate between judgments. That would be wrong.

Our current judgments are separate from the terms and conditions of probation, i.e. those terms and conditions are prepared by the CSCD and are a separate document from the judgment itself. Does everyone else include the terms and conditions on the face of the judgment?

Despite the wide variations in community supervision conditions throughout the state, we need to have some uniformity in felony judgment forms. A fairly simple solution would appear to be for the OCA to develop forms for use in Deferred / Probation cases that include a reference to the conditions of supervision on an attached exhibit. Then the basic form can be used, and the exhibit can be easily customized for each case. I have several "basic" supervision condition forms that I have used - one for "drug cases" one for "sex offenders" one for "basic conditions" and a catchall that includes every condition (for the sex offender who commits a felony DWI while in possession of a controlled substance). That way, I can start with a form that is close to what I need and go from there depending on the type of case. This solution would still provide OCA with the ability to efficiently enter the data they use, provide a "standard" form, and yet allow for the customization of conditions in each individual case.

Talked to the guys from OCA at the Sentencing Conference Friday - it's just the conditions of probation or deferred that they're dropping - not the judgment or order itself. I also suggested they provide the forms in WordPerfect, since most lawyers use that format. They've gotten that comment from lots of prosecutors and seemed receptive to the idea.

As Navin Johnson might say: "The new forms are here! The new forms are here! That really makes me somebody! Things are going to start happening to me now."

For those of you who have no idea what the above reference means (and why some of us worship movies from the late 70s and early 80s), click here: Steve Martin's Finest Work

I took a couple for a spin today, and had a couple of flat tires.

We use WordPerfect, but I tried to use the form in Word with its handy drop down entries. When I printed it, it left several of those entries blank. Also, this form is clearly meant to be filled in by someone other than the D.A.'s office, since I have no idea how much time credit a guy has. That information lies with the jail or the District Clerk.

Having worked in a county with Criminal District Courts, the Word form cannot be used with the drop downs, because there is no way to type in information outside the fields to distinguish CDC 1-4.

And since we are still supposed to include a statement of facts on pen trips (unless that has changed as well), why is there no such form as part of the prison sentence form?

In short, I converted the form to WordPerfect, changed parts of it to actually make it work, and have probably now violated the law requiring me to use the form as promulgated. Send out the Rangers to pick me up - I confess my criminal behaviour.

Whitney