In Texas, the charge level decides the courtroom:

• Felony. Filed in a district court, with the District Clerk holding the record.
• Class A or B misdemeanor. Jail is possible. One of the County Courts at Law hears it, while the County Clerk files the papers.
• Class C misdemeanor. No jail is possible. These are decided by JP courts and municipal judges.
• Appeals. The last word on any criminal appeal belongs to the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Local bonds track the same divide. Bonds on felonies point to district court, and bonds on misdemeanors point to the County Courts at Law. Federal crimes travel a different route, explained further down. The state's court system pamphlet lays out each level.

Most criminal business happens in the courthouse buildings on Washington Avenue. The Annex is entered from the main courthouse at ground level or by the jurors' door in the alley, and security screens every visitor.

• District Clerk (felony records), Suite 300, Courthouse Annex, 501 Washington Avenue, Waco, TX 76701. Criminal Division 254-757-5054, docket coordinator 254-757-7550. Open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• County Courts at Law (jailable misdemeanors). See the County Court at Law No. 1 page and the local rules dated February 16, 2026.
• JP Precinct 1, Place 1, 501 Washington Ave, Suite 104-D, Waco, TX 76701, 254-714-2899
• JP Precinct 1, Place 2, 501 Washington Ave, Suite 108, Waco, TX 76701, 254-757-5128
• JP Precinct 2, 929 Elm Avenue, Waco, TX 76704, 254-752-9353
• JP Precinct 3, 201 N. Reagan, West, TX 76691, 254-826-3341
• JP Precinct 4, office at 415 N. Johnson, McGregor, TX 76657, 254-759-7558
• JP Precinct 5, 1800 Richter Avenue, Waco, TX 76711, 254-752-4242

Treatment-focused programs are listed on the county's specialty courts page.

Yes. Texas gives every incorporated city a municipal court. Those courts and the six JP courts split the fine-only Class C docket.

Look on the ticket for the court's name. Lost it? The state keeps a Municipal Courts by City list. When city officers arrest someone on a felony or a jailable misdemeanor, that case still moves to the county courts above.

Class C law bends for people short on money. Judges may allow payments over time, trade the fine for community service credited at $150 per 8 hours, or waive it. Nobody may be jailed for an unpaid Class C fine unless a judge holds a hearing and decides they did not honestly try to pay (Texas CCP 45A.252-45A.261).

A magistrate must see the person before 48 hours pass, either by video or face to face (Texas CCP 15.17). In a few minutes, the magistrate:

• reads out the accusation;
• covers the right to hire counsel, to say nothing, to end any interview, and to request an examining trial;
• points out that any statement may be used as evidence;
• accepts a request for appointed counsel and helps with that paperwork;
• decides bail, or lets a Class C defendant leave with a written date to come back.

Since September 1, 2025, written reasons are due within 24 hours whenever the magistrate finds no probable cause (Texas CCP 15.17(h)). The person's real first court date comes later. In a felony, that is usually arraignment after indictment. In a misdemeanor, it follows the prosecutor's filing, called an information (Texas CCP 26.01).

DWI and theft charges can be misdemeanors or felonies, depending on the facts and past record. At the Class A or B level, they belong to the County Courts at Law. The prosecutor starts the case with an information. Next come arraignment, court settings where a plea offer is discussed, and trial if no deal is reached.

Misdemeanor limits from Penal Code chapter 12, from mildest to most serious: a Class C means a fine of $500 or less and never jail (Penal Code 12.23). After that, a Class B conviction may bring a county jail stay as long as 180 days, a fine reaching $2,000, or both, per Penal Code 12.22. Class A doubles both caps to one year and $4,000 (Penal Code 12.21).

Many cases settle by plea bargain. Before accepting a plea, the judge says in open court if the agreement will be honored, and a turned-down deal lets the defendant withdraw the plea (Texas CCP 26.13). Deferred adjudication is a second way out for a misdemeanor. The court holds off on a guilty finding, and once supervision of up to two years is finished, the judge dismisses the charge (Texas CCP 42A.101, 42A.103, 42A.111). Some intoxication charges are left out of that option (Texas CCP 42A.102).

A felony usually goes through six stops:

1. Magistrate warnings and a bail decision, inside two days of the arrest.
2. Examining trial, which the defense may request any time before indictment. The evidence gets a probable cause test, and bail can be looked at again (Texas CCP 16.01).
3. Grand jury, meeting in secret. Indictment takes the votes of at least nine members (Texas CCP 20A.301).
4. Arraignment before the district judge, where a plea goes on record.
5. Pretrial hearings on motions, evidence and offers.
6. Plea or trial, followed by a sentence.

Felony ranges in Penal Code 12.31-12.35 go like this. State jail felonies bring a state jail term from 180 days to two years. Next, a third-degree felony runs two to ten years in prison, a second-degree felony two to twenty, and a first-degree felony five to 99 years or life. Any of those four may also carry a fine reaching $10,000. A capital felony means death or life with no parole, and life for anyone under 18 when it happened.

A record of earlier convictions can bump up the range (Penal Code 12.42). Felony community supervision, the Texas word for probation, can last as long as 10 years (Texas CCP 42A.053).

Several rules shift, and families notice from the first week:

• Bail denial. Proposition 3 passed in 2025. It lists eight charges, such as murder and aggravated robbery. In those, a judge must refuse bail if the prosecutor proves the person would flee or is a danger (Texas Constitution, art. I, sec. 11d).
• Personal bond barred. A signed promise alone is not an option on most violent charges (Texas CCP 17.03).
• State appeals of bail. On listed violent charges, prosecutors may take a low bail to a higher court (Texas CCP 44.01).
• Limits on deferred adjudication. Murder, plus certain sex and trafficking crimes, are generally kept out of that program (Texas CCP 42A.102).

In these cases, victims also have a right to have their safety counted when bail is set (Texas CCP 56A.051).

Prosecution. Cases for the state are brought by the Criminal District Attorney's Office, which also has a Criminal Division page. If a diversion program might fit, have the defense lawyer ask that office.

Defense. Private attorneys take appointed cases under the county's indigent defense plan. A person can ask the magistrate or fill out the county's affidavit of indigency. With more than 250,000 residents, this county has one working day, after the appointing judge receives the request, to name a lawyer (Texas CCP 1.051(c)).

• For defendants with mental illness, a managed assigned counsel office pairs them with lawyers from Suite 405 at 501 Washington Ave., Waco, TX 76701, 254-447-0111.
• The Texas Indigent Defense Commission checks county plans: 209 West 14th Street, Room 202, Austin, TX 78701, 512-936-6994.

Work down this list:

1. Open the county's case search page.
2. Felony? Phone the District Clerk's Criminal Division, 254-757-5054. Misdemeanor? Begin at the County Clerk's criminal misdemeanor page.
3. Across Texas, re:SearchTX shows case numbers, courts and charging papers to anyone who registers for free. It leaves out hearing times, so get those from the clerk.
4. For a fine-only citation, reach out to the JP court or city court named on it.

Texas IVSS-Counties will also alert you when a hearing is scheduled or moved. Create alerts through the IVSS-Counties website, or phone 866-268-8959 day or night.

County warrants go out through the Sheriff's Warrant Division, and city officers serve warrants from their own courts. Useful pages: the Sheriff's Fugitive Apprehension Program, adult probation's absconder list, the county's Warrant Payments page and the statewide Texas 10 Most Wanted from DPS. To ask about one name, phone the District Clerk's Criminal Division, 501 Washington Avenue, Suite 300, Waco, TX 76701, 254-757-5054, or the JP court on a ticket. Clearing it starts with a lawyer: surrender together at the jail, or call the judge's court that signed it and request a new setting. The jail's Bond Office, 254-757-2555, can say if a bond is possible.

Federal crimes charged in this county are filed with the Western District of Texas, Waco Division. That division's clerk is at 800 Franklin Avenue, Room 380, Waco, TX 76701, 254-750-1501.

• Detention hearing. At a first federal court appearance, a judge weighs release against keeping them jailed until trial. The hearing may be put off briefly, by a few days at most (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Who holds them. Pretrial prisoners stay in U.S. Marshals custody, and many are kept in county jails that house federal inmates. Contact the Marshals at 800 Franklin Avenue, Room 200, Waco, TX 76701, 254-750-1570.
• After sentencing. Search the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

An ICE detainer sits on top of the state charges, and the local case carries on. This is the common pattern:

1. A Form I-247A detainer is lodged at the jail by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
2. Once the state case allows release, the jail is permitted to keep them up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Texas law since 2017 requires jails to honor these detainers, except for someone who proves lawful status (Government Code ch. 752; CCP art. 2A.060). Separately, under a 2025 law, every county jail must also seek a 287(g) agreement with ICE before a December 1, 2026 deadline.
4. ICE takes custody. Track the person with the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

Pleading guilty or no contest can cost a non-citizen their right to stay, so judges must give a deportation warning first (Texas CCP 26.13). An immigration lawyer should weigh in before any plea. When the locator comes up empty, ICE's Dallas Field Office, 8101 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75247, 972-367-2200, may help.

Jail terms for Class A and B misdemeanors are done in the county jail. State jail time is done at a state jail. Bigger felony terms are served in prison units run by TDCJ, the state prison system. Once sentenced, a person stays in county custody until TDCJ intake, and then is placed in a unit.

• The TDCJ inmate lookup searches by TDCJ number, SID number, or a last name along with a first initial. It only shows people now housed by TDCJ.
• Our Texas state prisons page profiles the units.

If the offense came at age 10 to 16, a Texas juvenile court handles it. By 17, the law counts the person as an adult, under Family Code 51.02. Locally, detained youths stay at the Bill Logue Juvenile Justice Center, called the Detention Center on the county site, 254-757-5072.

• Its rated capacity is 72. Waco ISD teaches classes there all year, and nurses plus a licensed counselor work on site.
• Visits are for parents and guardians only, Tuesdays 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to noon.
• The child gets appointed counsel, and a judge must rule on keeping them locked up before the second working day ends. When the youth was picked up on a Friday or Saturday, Family Code 54.01 sets that review for the first working day after. Ask the center for the time.
• For certain serious felonies, juvenile court can transfer a child of 14 or more to adult court (Family Code 54.02).

Questions about a youth's case can go to the center's main line.

State law lists victims' rights in Texas CCP 56A.051. A few that matter right away:

• their safety counts in the bail decision;
• on request, notice of hearings in the case;
• a chance to file an impact statement that the judge reads before sentencing;
• quick return of their property once it is no longer needed as evidence.

Texas IVSS-Counties, the free and confidential system that replaced VINE, sends a message when the person leaves the jail or is moved. Call 866-268-8959 for help in English or Spanish.

Up to $50,000 for medical care, counseling and lost income can be paid through the state's Crime Victims' Compensation fund, which the Attorney General runs, 800-983-9933.