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Judge Bill Henry has practiced law for over 30 years and is double certified in both family and civil trial law. He is a former assistant district attorney. He took time to explain the Hays County court hierarchy: Justice of the Peace handles tickets; the county court at law handles misdemeanor; the district court handles felony crimes, large civil and family cases (all important cases). In a typical week of non-jury dockets he will see 80 cases. Jury dockets are 1-3 weeks usually. In 2017 he issued 1,725 judgments and had 200 days of trials.
There are 4 district judges, 3 are in New Braunfels and he's the only one in San Marcos. The judge described the 4 types of cases he sees. First is criminal cases, and these typically arise from poverty and from the eastern portion of the county. He believes in a fair, just way of making decisions. Then there are the drug cases where the court can order rehabilitation if the offender wants it. He supports drug court because of the 1 on 1 contact. Family court is code driven, the judge has no leeway in decisions. Civil cases are very technical in nature.
Hays County is adding 1 district judge and 1 county court in October 2018, and it is much needed. His court was created in 2005 and his case load has doubled since that time.