Hays County Criminal Courts

If you have been arrested in San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Wimberley, or anywhere else in Hays County, the courthouse can feel like a maze, with different courts for different charge levels, a prosecutor's office you have never dealt with, and a driver's-license clock running quietly in the background. This guide explains how the Hays County criminal courts actually work: where your case will be heard, who will be prosecuting it, what the local process looks like from arrest to disposition, and what diversion programs may be available. It reflects how these courts run in practice, not just what a statute says. Nothing here is legal advice or a promise about your case (every case is different), but it should help you walk in knowing what to expect.

Before you go: the essentials

Where your case will be heard

Which court hears your case depends entirely on the level of the charge.

Misdemeanor DWI and other Class A/B misdemeanors: County Courts at Law. Class A and Class B misdemeanors, including DWI 1st (Class B) and DWI 2nd (Class A), are heard in the Hays County Courts at Law, located in the Government Center at 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Ste. 2292, San Marcos. Hays County has three criminal County Courts at Law (No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3), which share Class A/B misdemeanor jurisdiction. The county does not assign DWI to a single court number: misdemeanor DWI cases are docketed across all three Courts at Law, so a Hays misdemeanor DWI can land in No. 1, No. 2, or No. 3. Do not assume a specific court is "the DWI court"; the court assigned to your case is shown on your court-notice paperwork and tied to your cause number.

Felony charges: District Courts. Felony criminal matters, including felony-grade DWI (a third or subsequent DWI, DWI with a child passenger under 15, or intoxication assault or manslaughter), are heard in the District Courts sitting in Hays County. The district courts that serve Hays are the 22nd, 207th, 274th, 428th, 453rd, and 483rd Judicial District Courts; several of these are multi-county benches that also serve Caldwell and/or Comal County, and the felony criminal docket is spread across them. Felony records are kept by the District Clerk.

Class C, fine-only offenses: Justice of the Peace and municipal courts. Fine-only Class C matters (most traffic tickets, public intoxication, minor-in-possession, and city-ordinance violations) are not heard in the County Courts at Law. Offenses outside city limits go to one of Hays County's Justice of the Peace precinct courts; Class C offenses inside a city's limits go to that city's municipal court (for example, the San Marcos, Kyle, or Buda municipal courts).

Who prosecutes your case

Here is where Hays County differs from many of its neighbors, and it is worth understanding before you walk in.

One office prosecutes everything: the Hays County Criminal District Attorney. Unlike Travis County and a number of other Texas counties that split prosecution between a County Attorney (misdemeanors) and a District Attorney (felonies), Hays County has a unified Criminal District Attorney. There is no separate County Attorney prosecuting criminal misdemeanors. The Hays County Criminal District Attorney's Office represents the State in all felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile offenses. That means the same office prosecutes your misdemeanor DWI in the Courts at Law and a felony DWI in the District Courts. If someone tells you to deal with a "county attorney" for a Hays DWI, that office does not handle it here.

Office and contact. Hays County Criminal District Attorney's Office, 712 S. Stagecoach Trail, Suite 2057, San Marcos, TX 78666; phone (512) 393-7600.

Intake and first-offense DWI handling. Because one office handles the case from misdemeanor through felony, the prosecutor's intake and diversion posture is set in a single place. In January 2024 the office launched a general pre-trial diversion program, a voluntary, tiered contract aimed at low-level, often first-time, nonviolent offenders (described in the Local programs section below). Whether a standard first-offense DWI is categorically eligible for that program is not clearly stated in public materials, so it should be treated as a case-by-case question. A first, non-aggravated misdemeanor DWI is prosecuted in one of the Courts at Law, and whether any individual case is offered diversion, reduced, or set for trial depends on the specific facts, the defendant's record, and the evidence; no outcome is promised.

The local process, step by step

Every case is different, but a Hays County criminal case generally moves through these stages:

1. Arrest and booking. After a DWI or other arrest, you are booked into the Hays County Jail (1307 Uhland Rd, San Marcos) through the Sheriff's Office, which maintains the arrest and booking records.
2. Magistration. A magistrate informs you of the charges and your rights, sets bond, and imposes any bond conditions. Texas law requires this to happen without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after arrest (Code of Criminal Procedure art. 15.17); in practice it generally follows shortly after booking.
3. Bond and conditions. Bond is set at magistration rather than from a fixed public dollar schedule; magistrates set bail case by case from a standard starting point. Conditions in DWI cases can include no-alcohol terms, an ignition interlock device, or portable/continuous alcohol monitoring. The Hays County Bail Bond Board oversees local bonding and meets monthly.
4. The driver's-license clock (separate track). A DWI arrest starts a second, civil case against your license. You have only 15 days from the arrest to request an Administrative License Revocation (ALR) hearing from the Texas Department of Public Safety, or your license is automatically suspended. This proceeding is handled by the State Office of Administrative Hearings, not the criminal court; see the process below.
5. Filing and first setting. For a misdemeanor, the Criminal District Attorney files the charge and the case is set in the assigned Court at Law. For a felony, the case is presented to a grand jury for indictment before it proceeds in a District Court. Your first setting is largely administrative: appearances, scheduling, and confirming counsel.
6. Discovery. Under the Michael Morton Act (Texas's criminal discovery statute, Code of Criminal Procedure art. 39.14), the prosecution provides its evidence. In DWI cases this typically includes the offense/incident report, the probable-cause affidavit, CAD dispatch records, breath or blood lab results, certified driving records, any EMS or hospital records, and dash-cam and body-cam video. Filing and exchange are handled electronically.
7. Announcement / plea dockets. Cases move through a rhythm of reset settings at which the parties announce status, exchange positions, and either continue negotiating or move toward trial.
8. Pretrial motions. Where the facts support it, and routinely in felony matters, the defense files motions such as a motion to suppress evidence, along with related trial-preparation filings.
9. Trial setting. If the case does not resolve, it is set for trial, with announcement practice governing how firmly a given trial date holds.
10. Disposition. The case concludes by dismissal, diversion, plea, or trial verdict, depending on its facts and posture.

Local programs

Hays County runs several diversion and specialty-court tracks relevant to DWI and companion charges. Eligibility and outcomes below come from the county's published program materials; confirm current terms with the administering office, because criteria change.

• General pre-trial diversion: Hays County Criminal District Attorney. Launched in January 2024, this is a voluntary, three-tiered contract for low-level, often first-time, nonviolent offenders. Contracts run 6 or 12 months and toll (pause) the statute of limitations; where there is a victim, victim approval is sought. For participants who are accepted and successfully complete the contract, the program is designed to let the defendant avoid a conviction and criminal record, functionally a dismissal, with expunction eligibility afterward. Whether a standard first-offense DWI is categorically eligible is not stated publicly.
• Veterans Treatment Court. A 12–24 month, phased program for honorably discharged veterans and active-duty service members whose offense connects to a service-related injury, primarily at the misdemeanor level. For those who qualify and complete the program, it is designed to result in erasure of the participant's case-related criminal records (dismissal plus record relief). This track can be relevant to veteran DWI matters.
• DWI & Drug Court Program. A newer combined county-court and district-court specialty court offering treatment and rehabilitation as an alternative to traditional sentencing for nonviolent offenders with substance-use disorders. Public materials describe it as an alternative to sentencing.
• Mental Health Court / Veteran Jail Diversion. Operated regionally through Hill Country MHDD; the Mental Health Court sits in Hays, and Veteran Jail Diversion covers Hays and Comal. Eligibility is diagnosis- and competency-driven, and outcomes vary.

A note on deferred adjudication. In Texas, a standard DWI is generally not eligible for deferred adjudication, though a limited first-DWI deferred option exists by statute for a lower blood-alcohol concentration. In practice, that means a dismissal on a Hays DWI typically runs through pre-trial diversion or a specialty court rather than deferred adjudication.

Driver's-license (ALR) hearings. ALR hearings are civil driver's-license proceedings held by the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH) before an administrative law judge, with Texas DPS as the opposing party, not the criminal court. The hearing is held at a SOAH-designated location or, by agreement, by teleconference or video; for Hays County arrests this is typically a SOAH venue in the Austin area. The hearing must be requested from DPS within 15 days of the arrest.

What makes Hays County different

A few features of practicing here are things a local defendant would recognize immediately and an out-of-town firm can miss. The points below rest on public facts about how these courts and programs are structured, not on any client's case.

One prosecutor's office, start to finish. Because Hays has a unified Criminal District Attorney rather than a split between a county attorney and a district attorney, a DWI is handled by the same office whether it is charged as a misdemeanor or, on a repeat offense, as a felony. That single-office structure is a practical fact to plan around: intake, diversion screening, and negotiating posture all run through one office rather than two. Several of Hays's neighbors, Travis among them, divide those functions between two offices, so a lawyer who works the region has to switch postures from county to county.

The felony benches are shared, multi-county courts. The district courts that carry Hays felony matters (the 22nd, 207th, 274th, 428th, 453rd, and 483rd) are not all Hays-only courts; several are multi-county benches that also sit in Caldwell and/or Comal County. In practice that means a judge's docket, and your setting, can be shaped by obligations in another county, and which court holds your case is tied to your cause number rather than to the charge alone.

A broad, recently built-out diversion menu. Hays has expanded its diversion and specialty-court options in a short span: the Criminal District Attorney launched a general, tiered pre-trial diversion program in January 2024, and the county also runs a Veterans Treatment Court, a combined DWI & Drug Court, and a regional Mental Health Court. For the right case, that menu can matter more than it would in a county with fewer tracks, but eligibility for each is specific, and none is automatic. The Local programs section above lays out what each one is.

Two cases start at once, and the license case moves faster. A Texas DWI is really two proceedings running in parallel: the criminal case in the Court at Law or District Court, and a separate administrative case over your driver's license at SOAH. The license side is easy to overlook because it has nothing to do with the criminal courthouse, yet its 15-day clock is the first hard deadline you face after a DWI arrest. Requesting an Administrative License Revocation hearing, and, where a suspension is in play, petitioning for an Occupational Driver's License so you can keep driving to work, school, and treatment, is a routine part of handling a DWI anywhere in Texas, Hays included.

Whether a Hays DWI is a misdemeanor or a felony is set by statute, not by the county. Under Texas law a DWI is a misdemeanor unless a specific aggravating or repeat-offense factor applies: a third or subsequent DWI, a child passenger under 15, or an intoxication assault or manslaughter. A first, non-aggravated DWI stays in the misdemeanor County Courts at Law; those enhancing factors are what move a case up to the felony District Courts. Knowing which side of that line a case sits on, and why, is the starting point for any DWI defense here.

Attorneys who appear here

Charges we defend in Hays County

We defend the full range of criminal and DWI matters in the Hays County courts, including:

• DWI (first offense)
• Felony DWI
• Multiple-offense DWI (DWI 2nd and subsequent)
• Underage DWI
• Drug possession and drug charges
• Weapons and unlawful-carry charges
• Evading arrest or detention
• Assault and family violence

External resources

• Hays County online case search (Tyler public access, civil & criminal)
• Hays County District Clerk, felony records search & copy requests
• Hays County Courts at Law (misdemeanor / DWI)
• Hays County District Courts (felony)
• Hays County Veterans Treatment Court
• Hays County DWI & Drug Court Program
• Hays County Bail Bond Board / bond information
• SOAH driver's-license (ALR) hearings
• Texas DPS Administrative License Revocation (ALR) program

Frequently Asked Questions

Nearest Office

San Marcos sits on the I-35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio, and our Austin office is a short drive north of the Hays County Government Center. If you have been arrested in Hays County, call for a free case review or contact us online. Clients in the southern part of the county may also find our San Antonio office (700 N. St. Mary's Street, Suite 1400) convenient. The firm-wide line, (737) 324-7540, reaches both offices.

Other courthouse guides

• Travis County Courthouse Guide. The criminal courts of Travis County (Austin).
• Comal County Courthouse Guide. The criminal courts of Comal County (New Braunfels).
• Bexar County (San Antonio) Courthouse Guide. The criminal courts of Bexar County.
• Williamson County Courthouse Guide. The criminal courts of Williamson County (Georgetown).