Each level of crime in Texas goes to its own kind of court:

• Felony cases are heard by the 143rd District Court, whose judge serves Reeves, Loving and Ward counties. The District Clerk keeps those files.
• Misdemeanors of Class A or B, which can carry jail time, are county-level cases. They go before the County Court at Law or the constitutional County Court, with records at the County Clerk's office.
• Fine-only Class C cases go to the justice courts, split among four precincts countywide. When a city officer writes the ticket inside Pecos, the municipal court hears it instead.

A felony case usually opens with warnings and a bond decision from a magistrate, long before any grand jury meets. Any criminal appeal from this county can end up, at the very top, before the Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas's last stop.

Nearly every county court works out of one building, 100 E. 4th Street, Pecos, TX 79772. Callers reach its offices through the main number, 432-287-0222, then choose from the menu.

• District Clerk, felony records, 2nd floor. Weekday hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Letters go to P.O. Box 848, Pecos, TX 79772. Lawyers file papers through eFile Texas rather than fax or email.
• 143rd District Court, local office line 432-445-5481. The judge's home office is at 400 S. Allen, Suite 200, Monahans, TX 79756, 432-943-2749.
• County Clerk, misdemeanor records, Suite 101. Staff work 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. without a lunch closing. Mail goes to P.O. Box 867, Pecos, TX 79772.
• Justice courts for Precincts 1 and 2, 925 West Daggett St, Pecos, TX 79772. Precinct 2 is open Monday through Thursday.
• Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, 114 Main Street, Balmorhea, TX 79718, 432-375-2663, Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4, mail to P.O. Box 1894, Pecos, TX 79772; open Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with a noon break.

The four justice courts share a phone line, 432-287-0241. Say which precinct you need.

The city of Pecos runs a municipal court at City Hall, 115 W 3rd Street, Pecos, TX 79772. Its mailing address is P.O. Box 1227, Pecos, TX 79772, and its clerk answers at 432-445-2417, weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• It hears Class C misdemeanors and city ordinance cases from inside town limits.
• It takes tickets that city officers write to minors.
• Youths 10 to 16 with a ticket that is not about traffic may qualify for its diversion program.
• Its judge can sign arrest and search warrants.
• The court's web page has a link for paying fines online. At the window, it takes a card, money order, cashier's check or cash.

Toyah and Balmorhea are the county's two other towns. If a ticket came from inside either one, call its City Hall to learn which court has it: Toyah at P.O. Box 144, Toyah, TX 79785, 432-259-3908, or Balmorhea at P.O. Box 323, Balmorhea, TX 79718, 432-375-2307. Out on rural roads, the ticket goes to whichever JP precinct includes the location of the stop.

No more than 48 hours after arrest, someone held here sees a magistrate, face to face or by video hookup (art. 15.17, Tex. Code Crim. Proc.). State law lets justices of the peace act as magistrates, as can the district and county judges (art. 2A.151). At this short meeting, the magistrate must:

• state what the person is accused of;
• explain that a paid lawyer or a court-appointed one is an option, and help with the request form;
• explain the rights to stay silent, to have a lawyer present while police ask questions, and to stop an interview at any time;
• for a felony charge, mention that an examining trial can be requested (art. 16.01);
• warn that statements can be used as evidence;
• decide on bail.

A jailer who suspects mental illness has a 12-hour clock to report it to the magistrate, under art. 16.22.

Jailable misdemeanors are charged by a document called an information, rather than by a grand jury. The County Attorney's Office, 120 W. 5th St., Pecos, TX 79772, 432-445-5480, can tell a family which prosecutor holds a misdemeanor file. After filing, the case moves through arraignment and pretrial settings, then ends in a plea or a trial. With a plea deal in hand, the judge tells the courtroom whether it stands; a rejected deal lets the defendant take the plea back (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 26.13).

Maximum penalties set by the Penal Code:

• Class A: fines top out at $4,000, and county jail at one year (Tex. Penal Code 12.21).
• Class B: fines top out at $2,000, and jail at 180 days (Tex. Penal Code 12.22).
• Class C: $500 or less, as a fine only, never jail (Tex. Penal Code 12.23).

Theft charges climb by the value taken, and an assault or DWI level depends on the facts. Misdemeanor deferred adjudication lasts no longer than two years, and finishing it brings a dismissal (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 42A.103, 42A.111).

1. Bond and warnings before a magistrate within 48 hours after arrest.
2. Examining trial (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 16.01), if the defense asks: a judge checks probable cause before any indictment.
3. Grand jury. Evidence comes from the 143rd District Attorney. No indictment issues without votes from nine grand jurors at minimum (art. 20A.301).
4. Arraignment (art. 26.01): identity is confirmed on the record and the plea is entered.
5. Pretrial settings and plea talks.
6. Plea or jury trial, followed by a sentence.

How long each felony level can put someone away:

• State jail felony: a stay in one of TDCJ's state jails, 180 days or longer but never past 2 years (Tex. Penal Code 12.35).
• Third degree: 2 up to 10 years in prison (Tex. Penal Code 12.34).
• Second degree: 2 up to 20 years (Tex. Penal Code 12.33).
• First degree: a 5-year floor and a 99-year or life ceiling (Tex. Penal Code 12.32).

Every felony grade also permits a fine up to $10,000. Under Tex. Penal Code 12.42, a record of earlier felonies can push punishment up a level. A felony probation or deferred term may run as long as a decade under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 42A.053 and 42A.103. The Reeves CSCD supervises adult probation from 700-A Daggett, Pecos, TX 79772, 432-447-6600.

A violent charge tightens the rules right away:

• No personal bond is allowed for the violent offenses that Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 17.03 lists.
• Denial of bail. A constitutional change Texas voters approved in 2025 (Tex. Const. art. I, §11d) lets a judge deny release entirely on counts like murder or aggravated sexual assault, among others. Before that happens, the prosecutor must convince the judge at a hearing that release would invite flight or put others in danger.
• Prosecutor appeals. For listed violent offenses, the prosecution can take a bail it finds too small up to a higher court (art. 44.01). That appeal gets decided in 20 days or less, and the defendant sits in jail until then.
• Capital murder: two outcomes exist for adults, death or life without parole. Someone under 18 gets life (Tex. Penal Code 12.31).
• Lawyers in death-penalty trials: poor defendants here are represented by lawyers on staff at the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases.

Crime victims can ask the magistrate to weigh their safety when bail is set (art. 56A.051).

• 143rd District Attorney, felonies from Reeves, Loving and Ward counties: 601 West I-20 North Service Road, Monahans, TX 79756, 432-251-0456; mailing address P.O. Box 510, Monahans, TX 79756. A Pecos branch works out of the BOP Administration Building, 100 West County Rd. 204, Pecos, TX 79772.
• County Attorney's Office, 120 W. 5th St., Pecos, TX 79772, 432-445-5480.

Anyone too poor to hire counsel can ask for one under the plan the three counties share. The magistrate hands over the form. The district judge rules on felony requests, and the County Court at Law judge or County Judge on misdemeanor requests, with a lawyer named inside three working days. Under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 26.04, counsel must then reach out to the new client by quitting time on the following working day. Request forms also wait at both clerks' offices, 100 E. 4th Street, Pecos, TX 79772, 432-287-0222.

• re:SearchTX, the state's court records website, lists case numbers, charges and judgments for Texas district and county courts at no charge once you register. Ask the clerks for hearing dates.
• The County Clerk's web page links an official online search of county court records.
• Felony settings: District Clerk. Misdemeanor settings: County Clerk. Both answer at 432-287-0222.
• City tickets: the municipal court, 432-445-2417.
• Justice court cases: 432-287-0241, then name the precinct.

Clerks find files fastest with the exact legal name, the birth date, and a case or citation number if one exists.

County deputies carry out warrants outside town, while Pecos police handle them in the city. Ask about a warrant at the Sheriff's Office, 432-445-4901, or the police department, 432-445-4911. The municipal court also issues warrants on city cases, 432-445-2417. DPS keeps a separate statewide list, the Texas 10 Most Wanted, for top fugitives. Someone named in a warrant is wise to call a defense lawyer before turning themselves in at the jail, 500 South Oak Street, Pecos, TX 79772, or before asking the signing court for a new date. On a felony warrant, the District Clerk's staff can check the file, 100 E. 4th Street, Pecos, TX 79772, 432-287-0222.

U.S. prosecutions out of this county go to the Pecos Division, a branch of the Western District of Texas with a sister office in Alpine. Its clerk sits at 410 South Cedar, Pecos, TX 79772 (Lucius D. Bunton III U.S. Courthouse), 432-445-4228.

• Soon after charging, a federal magistrate judge sizes up the defendant and rules on going home with conditions. The other choice is jail until trial (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• Deputy marshals hold and transport federal prisoners. The U.S. Marshals Service office is in that building, 432-445-5495.
• Prosecution comes from the San Antonio headquarters of the Western District's U.S. Attorney, 601 NW Loop 410, Suite 600, San Antonio, TX 78216, 210-384-7100. Its closest branch phone is Alpine, 432-837-7332.
• For defendants without means, defense comes from the Federal Public Defender's local office, 410 South Cedar Street, 1st Floor, Pecos, TX 79772, 432-445-2024.
• After a prison sentence, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator names the federal prison holding the person.

An immigration hold does not stop a Texas prosecution. Its effect shows up on the day the jail would release someone.

1. Through Form I-247A, ICE asks that the jail hold someone up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
2. Under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 2A.060, every Texas jail must go along with it. Only someone carrying proof of citizenship or lawful status walks out on schedule. Tex. Gov't Code 752.053 bans city or county policies that would get in the way of immigration enforcement.
3. ICE agents pick the person up at the jail door and transfer them to a detention center.
4. Use the ICE Online Detainee Locator. Searching works with an A-number. Lacking that, type a full name plus birth nation.

Before a noncitizen's plea of guilty or no contest is accepted, the judge gives a spoken and written caution that removal from the country could follow (art. 26.13). Under S.B. 8 (2025), Texas sheriffs running jails face a deadline of Dec. 1, 2026, to ask ICE for 287(g) agreements.

Prison terms from the 143rd for third-degree felonies or worse are spent behind TDCJ walls, meaning the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The same agency operates the state jails for lower-level felony time. New arrivals pass through a TDCJ intake site for tests and classification. After that comes a permanent unit assignment.

• The TDCJ inmate search takes either an ID (TDCJ or SID) or an exact surname with first initial, spelled the way TDCJ has it.
• Our Texas state prisons page gives unit-by-unit details, from Huntsville to the Panhandle.

Texas handles conduct from ages 10 through 16 in juvenile court, while anyone 17 or older is prosecuted like any grown defendant (Tex. Fam. Code 51.02). Which court takes youth cases is up to the local juvenile board (51.04). Main steps:

• Police must tell a parent without delay once a child is in custody (Tex. Fam. Code 52.02).
• A youth kept in detention gets counsel and a hearing within two working days. Weekend timing matters: Friday or Saturday detentions get just one working day before that hearing (Tex. Fam. Code 54.01).
• For grave felonies, a youth of 14 or older, or 15 or older for other felonies, may be moved to adult court after a full hearing (Tex. Fam. Code 54.02).

The state's detention registry shows no juvenile facility within the county. The juvenile probation department can say where a youth is held; ask for it through the courthouse line, 432-287-0222. Lawyers for youths are appointed under a plan of their own from the tri-county juvenile board for Loving, Reeves and Ward.

Under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 56A.051, victims are owed, among other things:

• consideration of their safety in setting bail;
• word of court settings on request;
• a written impact statement the judge reviews ahead of sentencing.

Free custody and court-event alerts come from Texas IVSS-Counties, 866-268-8959, open every hour in English or Spanish, and the inmate never learns who registered. The Attorney General's office administers Crime Victims' Compensation. That fund can repay up to $50,000 for costs such as medical bills and counseling; its number is 800-983-9933. For case questions on a felony, contact the 143rd District Attorney, 601 West I-20 North Service Road, Monahans, TX 79756, 432-251-0456.