Texas sorts a charge by its worst possible punishment. In Cass that sorting looks like this:

• The 5th Judicial District Court hears felonies. Its docket runs all the way from state jail felonies to capital murder.
• The County Court at Law hears jailable misdemeanors, meaning Class B and Class A. Expect DWI, many assaults and smaller thefts on its Hwy 8 docket.
• Four JP courts and the city courts split up Class C tickets, which are fine-only. A city court gets one when city officers wrote it.

Handy for families: one Cass office, the District Clerk, holds both kinds of file. A Cass appeal goes first to a regional appeals court. A rare few climb on to Austin's Court of Criminal Appeals.

Nearly everything happens at the Law Enforcement & Justice Center on Hwy 8:

• District Clerk, keeper of both trial courts' files: 604 Highway 8 North, Linden, TX 75563 (mail: P.O. Box 510). 903-756-7514. Doors open Monday through Thursday 8 to noon and 1 to 5, and Friday 8 to noon and 1 to 4.
• 5th District Court: inside the same center; call through the District Clerk.
• County Court at Law: 604 Hwy 8N, Linden, TX 75563. Its coordinator answers at 903-756-7515.
• JP 1: 604 Hwy 8N, Linden, TX 75563, 903-756-5341. Hours: 8 till 5 Mondays through Thursdays, 8 till 4 Fridays.

Three more JP offices cover the rest of Cass:

• JP 4, Atlanta: 603B S. Louise St., Atlanta, TX 75551, 903-796-8493. Fridays 8 till 4; other weekdays 8 till 5. Closed for lunch, noon to 1.
• JP 2, Hughes Springs: 603 E 1st Street, Hughes Springs, TX 75656, 903-639-7268. Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. A drop box takes after-hours payments. Cards aren't run during each month's last 3 business days.
• JP 3, Queen City: 605 County Road 3433, Queen City, TX 75572, 903-796-3891. Mondays through Thursdays 8 till 4:30, Fridays 8 till 4, shut from noon to 12:30.

Census figures put Cass at 28,651 residents as of July 2025. Summoned for jury duty? The District Clerk's juror line is 800-594-2274.

When a town's own officers write a Class C ticket, it can land in that town's municipal court rather than a JP. Town by town:

• Linden Municipal Court: P.O. Box 932, Linden, TX 75563. 903-756-3734. Open 8 till 5 Mondays through Thursdays and 8 till 4 Fridays, with a noon-to-1 lunch break and federal holidays off. Pay a ticket from that court on the GovRec page the city uses.
• Hughes Springs: its police page lists the municipal judge alongside JP 2. Ring that JP office, 903-639-7268, about a Hughes Springs city citation.
• Atlanta, Queen City, Avinger, Bloomburg: read the ticket. Its face names the court and the appearance date. Lost it? The Sheriff's Office, 903-756-7511, can tell you which court got the case.

City courts stick to Class C and town ordinance cases. A charge that could bring jail heads to the County Court at Law or the 5th District Court instead.

No more than 48 hours after arrest, the person sees a magistrate. Cass fills that role with its four Justices of the Peace, who rotate by a duty calendar. Zoom is fine if the magistrate on duty picks it.

1. First, the JP names the offense.
2. Second, the warnings: stay quiet, hire a lawyer, have that lawyer sit in on questioning, stop any interview.
3. Third, the JP asks about a free lawyer. A yes gets the request form started at that hearing.
4. Last, bail or a personal bond, often with rules attached. Staying away from a named person is a common one.

Many Class C cases never involve a jail trip, because officers can write a ticket listing a court date and leave the person home (Crim. Proc. Code art. 14.06). For Class A, Class B and felony charges, the first real court setting lands later, often weeks out. Ask the District Clerk for that date.

Misdemeanor charges reach the court on two prosecutor papers, a complaint and an information, with grand jurors left out. Next is arraignment, where the plea is entered (Crim. Proc. Code art. 26.01). Pretrial settings follow on the Hwy 8 docket, and lawyers trade offers there. Cass misdemeanors end in a dismissal, a plea or, now and then, a trial.

The most a Cass judge can impose, per Penal Code chapter 12:

• Class C (§12.23): $500 fine ceiling. No jail.
• Class B (§12.22): $2,000 fine ceiling, 180-day jail ceiling, or both.
• Class A (§12.21): $4,000 fine ceiling, one-year jail ceiling, or both.

Probation, which Texas calls community supervision, can run two years at most for a misdemeanor (Crim. Proc. Code art. 42A.053). Locally it's supervised by Cass Community Supervision and Corrections, 604 Hwy 8 N, Linden, TX 75563, 903-756-7517. Deferred adjudication is a cousin of probation. No guilty finding is entered, and finishing every condition gets the charge dismissed.

Can't cover a Class C fine? The JP or city judge needs to hear that. Options include paying over time, getting it waived, or working it off, with each 8 hours of community service knocking $150 off. Jail for nonpayment is a last step: a hearing must come first, plus a finding of no good-faith effort (Crim. Proc. Code ch. 45A, arts. 45A.252 and following).

1. Magistrate. Bail or a personal bond, as above.
2. Examining trial, if asked for. Under Crim. Proc. Code art. 16.01, a judge can test probable cause before any indictment.
3. Closed-door grand jury. Cass citizens hear the evidence privately. Indicting takes nine yes votes (art. 20A.301).
4. Arraignment and motions. Both happen in the 5th District Court, where evidence fights and motions get heard.
5. Plea or jury. Art. 26.13 makes the judge announce up front whether a plea bargain will be honored. Turned down, the defendant gets the plea back.
6. Sentencing. Outcomes range from deferred adjudication or probation to state jail or prison.

Ranges the Penal Code sets:

• Capital (§12.31): death if the state seeks it, otherwise life without parole.
• First degree (§12.32): from 5 years all the way to 99, or life.
• Second degree (§12.33): 2-year floor, 20-year cap.
• Third degree (§12.34): 2-year floor, 10-year cap.
• State jail felony (§12.35): 180-day floor, 2-year cap, at a state jail rather than prison.

Every level from state jail felony through first degree also allows a fine as high as $10,000. For felonies, Cass judges may set probation or deferred adjudication for a decade at most, under arts. 42A.053 and 42A.103 of the Crim. Proc. Code.

Assault on a family member, robbery, sexual assault and similar Cass cases face stricter rules from the moment of booking.

• Hold after bond. Where abuse could carry on, the jail keeps the person on Hwy 8 for 4 hours or longer after bond is posted. Under Crim. Proc. Code art. 17.291(b), a written order may add up to 48 more hours.
• Magistrate's protective order. Signed at the first hearing under art. 17.292, it keeps the accused away from the victim. Ordinarily it lasts somewhere from 61 to 91 days. In assaults where a deadly weapon was used or exhibited, a Cass magistrate's order runs from 91 up to 121 days instead.
• Personal bond limits. A Cass magistrate can't grant one on many violent charges. Usually that means cash or a bondsman.
• Bail can be refused. Since a 2025 constitutional amendment, murder, aggravated robbery and some other violent felonies can be held without bail. The prosecutor must request this, and a hearing decides it.
• Prior felonies. Penal Code §12.42 can bump punishment up a level for someone with a record.

Addiction or mental illness can sometimes route a case to a specialty court instead. The state lists every drug, veterans and mental health court. A defense lawyer can check if one serves Cass.

Prosecution. The Criminal District Attorney's office brings state charges in Cass courts. Find it at 604 Hwy 8N, Linden, TX 75563. Mail goes to P.O. Box 839, Linden, TX 75563. Call 903-756-7541.

Defense for people who can't pay. Cass appoints private lawyers under a county plan. Death-penalty cases are the exception; a regional capital-case defense office in Lubbock takes those. For everything else in Cass:

1. Answer yes at magistration when asked about counsel. If that moment passed, apply later.
2. Pick up the form from a court coordinator, the District Clerk or the state's Indigent Defense Commission. File it with the District Clerk, 604 Highway 8 North, Linden, TX 75563.
3. One of three judges appoints: the 5th District judge, JP 1, or whoever presides over the County Court at Law. The deadline is the close of the third working day.

Cass presumes a person can't afford counsel if they receive SNAP, Medicaid, TANF or SSI, or live in public housing. Poverty-level income, or less, qualifies too. So does having under $500 a month once necessary expenses are paid. The commission oversees these plans from 209 West 14th Street, Room 202, Austin, TX 78701, 512-936-6994.

• Felony settings: the county's 5th District Court dockets.
• Misdemeanor settings: the County Court at Law dockets.
• Name search: Cass runs a public records portal.
• Court filings statewide: re:SearchTX costs nothing after you sign up. Expect charging papers and judgments there, but no hearing calendar.
• Past convictions: DPS charges for its conviction name search.

Settings move around a lot. Before driving to Linden, confirm the date with the District Clerk, 903-756-7514. Ticket cases: call the JP precinct or city court the officer wrote down.

Deputies with the Sheriff's Office, 903-756-7511, serve most Cass warrants. Constables do too: Precinct 1 903-756-5341, Precinct 2 903-824-6947, Precinct 4 903-824-6933. City police serve them in town: Linden 903-756-5544, Hughes Springs 903-639-2621. Online, try the Most Wanted tab on the Sheriff's Citizen Connect site, plus Texas 10 Most Wanted from DPS. Any of those offices can say by phone whether a warrant exists. Clearing one means getting a lawyer first. Then surrender together where the warrant came from, or let the lawyer phone that clerk about a fresh date. For a 5th District or County Court at Law warrant, that means the District Clerk, 604 Highway 8 North, Linden, TX 75563, 903-756-7514.

Cass belongs to the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. Its courthouse is the Sam B. Hall Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse, 100 East Houston Street, Room 125, Marshall, TX 75670. Clerk: 903-935-2912.

• Day one in Marshall. A U.S. magistrate judge explains the federal charge and rules on release. If prosecutors want the person kept, there is a detention hearing under 18 U.S.C. 3142.
• Where they're held. Pretrial custody goes to the U.S. Marshals Service, which may board people in a county jail. Marshall office: 903-935-5737.
• Who argues the case. For the government, the U.S. Attorney's office in Tyler: 110 North College, Suite 700, Tyler, TX 75702, 903-590-1400. Defendants unable to pay get the Federal Public Defender: 110 North College Avenue, Suite 1122, Tyler, TX 75702, 903-531-9233.
• Once sentenced. The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) assigns a federal prison. Find the person through the federal inmate locator.

The Cass case comes first and keeps moving in its own court. The detainer matters only when the Cass case would let the person go:

1. ICE sends the Hwy 8 jail a Form I-247A.
2. Release can come from bond, a dismissal or time served. Any of those triggers the hold, and the Hwy 8 jail may keep the person for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Either ICE collects them or the time runs out.
4. The ICE Online Detainee Locator shows where ICE took them. The Dallas Field Office, 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200, can say which ICE office has the file.

Texas jails, the Hwy 8 jail among them, have to follow detainers (Crim. Proc. Code art. 2A.060). Showing papers that prove lawful presence or U.S. citizenship lifts the hold. Gov't Code §752.053, added by 2017's S.B. 4, stops Texas cities and counties from restricting enforcement. A 2025 statute also requires jail-running sheriffs to pursue a 287(g) agreement; ask the Cass Sheriff's Office about its status. Mention citizenship or visa status to the defense lawyer before any plea, because pleading guilty can affect a person's ability to stay in the country.

Felony prison terms are TDCJ's job. The letters mean Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which runs state prisons. The Cass jail holds the person till TDCJ sends for them. At intake, staff review health, security risk and program needs, then pick a unit. A state jail felony sentence is different: it's served at one of the state jails.

After the move, search the person in the TDCJ inmate search. Families planning visits, letters or deposits can read our Texas state prisons page.

Under Family Code §51.02(2), Texas treats a Cass youth as a child if the offense came between the 10th and 17th birthdays. Adult court handles anyone older.

• Parents hear quickly, since §52.02 of the Family Code says so.
• Keeping a child detained needs a judge's OK by the second working day. A Cass child picked up Friday or Saturday must see the judge sooner, by the next working day (§54.01).
• Some teens 14 and older face adult trial. It takes a very serious felony, a hearing, and a juvenile judge's certification (§54.02).

To learn where a Cass child is held, call juvenile probation at 903-756-7551. That department handles intake. Its mail goes to P.O. Box 301, Linden, TX 75563.

Texas gives crime victims rights throughout a case. Bail decisions must weigh their safety. They can ask for notice of hearings. They can speak or write about how the crime hurt them (Crim. Proc. Code art. 56A.051). Ask for notices by phoning the Criminal District Attorney's office, 903-756-7541.

• Jail release alerts: sign up for Cass jail notices through Texas IVSS-Counties, or by phone day or night at 866-268-8959. The service is free, confidential and covers the Cass jail.
• Prison alerts: TDCJ Victim Services, 800-848-4284.
• Help with costs: Texas's Attorney General oversees Crime Victims' Compensation. Eligible Cass victims can receive as much as $50,000 for things like counseling, doctor bills and missed paychecks. Phone 800-983-9933.