Home > Research Legal Advice > Speeding / Traffic Ticket > Municipal (Traffic) Court procedures for jury trial, Austin Texas
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Asked 4 months ago - Austin, TX
FlagI have a jury trial set for a red light ticket at the Austin Municipal court. I looked at the court docket and I see about 5 or 6 other "jury trials" scheduled on the exact same day and time in the exact same courtroom. Are they actually going to have a trial for each of us? Or are they only going to pursue the "bigger fish" and dismiss the rest of us? Would like to know what to expect and how long I can expect to be there. I don't plan on taking any "deals" that the prosecutor has to offer.
They are probably only set up to have one trial at that setting, although in County Court and District Court sometimes they will do two if there happens to be an extra judge available and an extra court room, and enough members of the jury panel have been summoned so that there are enough for choosing two juries. But, in muni court, there probably will only be one trial.
The prosecutors will be evaluating their cases. They will renew or modify some offers to settle. They will see which witnesses have shown up, or are available to come on short notice. Then they will choose the case that they feel they have things best lined up to win.
BAW, don't dismiss their offer to settle without looking at it carefully. You can often end up with a dismissal after you take a driving safety course, don't get any more tickets for 6 months, or something like that, and pay a fee that is roughly the same amount as court costs would be.
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