I have been told that it is legally proper for an adult court to arraign a juvenile in a court of record on a Class C. This runs counter to all that I understand about the exclusive jurisdiction of juvenile courts over juvenile cases. Does anyone have any case law? Thanks.

Justice and municipal courts have jurisdiction over juveniles for Class C cases. See CCP art 45.057, for example. The court has the option to transfer jurisdiction to a Family Court if it believes the situation warrants, or transfer is mandatory if it is I believe the juvenile's second or more case.

To be more specific, can the court be in session on adult cases and also hear juvenile cases at the same time? Thank you!

Class C cases in juvi and muni courts are not covered by Family Code section 54.08. Even if they were only the cases for children under the age of 14 would be closed.

If you are thinking about federal/detention guidelines, that only applies the juveniles in custody and adult inmates in custody. Juveniles in custody must be out of sight and hearing of adult inmates at all times. Generally, Class C offenders juvenile offenders are not in custody, so again would not apply.

Juvi/Muni courts did get a new records confidentiality section for everything but 45.0217(b) but it doesn't cover hearings only records FC 58.00711.

Hope that answered your questions !

Thank you Stacy. So do we have consensus that a Class C municipal court of record can handle both juvenile and adult cases at the same time (i.e. mixed adult/juv docket)? Still seems off kilter to me... Suzy Pigtails 15 yr old school girl is in the same court for traffic violation as Billy Bob 35 yr old for public intoxication? Thanks!

Yes, they can be. If a municipal court doesn't transfer jurisdiction to the Family Court, then they're treated like any other Class C, except for a few extra requirements on what punishment can be given, etc. There's no requirement for a separate docket.