POLS 2312 1st Edition Lecture 25 Outline of Last Lecture I Civil Cases II Criminal Cases III Appellate Jurisdiction Outline of Current Lecture I Courts A Municipal Courts B County Level Courts C District Courts D Supreme Court II Juries A Grand jury B Indictment C Exemptions D Hung Jury III Judges A Merit Plan Current Lecture l A Municipal courts are appointed cities set the qualifications salaries are paid by the city and they always are original jurisdiction B There are 254 county level courts in Texas that have a constitutional judge that presides over county commissioners C District courts are the general trial courts They handle original jurisdiction and civil claims divorce federal criminal and juvenile cases D Only Texas and Oklahoma have a split supreme court system The Supreme Court deals with civil and juvenile cases while the Court of Criminal Appeals deals with criminal cases ll The frequency of jury use is declining These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute A The grand jury is a 12 person jury who sits in pretrial proceedings to determine if sufficient evidence exists to try and individual B Indictment is a formal written accusation issued by the grand jury against a party charged with a crime No Bill is when there is not enough evidence to be found guilty C For exemption of jury duty one must be over 70 years of age a student or woman man with custody of a child under age 10 D A hung jury is when they can t agree on verdict after suitable period of deliberation lll Most states elect judges and some states allow the governor to appoint judges A The Merit Plan or Missouri Plan selects judges based of their merit quality of a candidate Appointees later face retention election and the governor fills court vacancies from a list provided by the judicial commission Those selected hold their posts for at least a year Names are put on a retention ballot and voters chose to keep them or not
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