Tex. Code of Criminal Procedure § 45A.051
This is the official text of Tex. Code of Criminal Procedure § 45A.051, part of Texas’s Code of Criminal Procedure — sets the procedural rules for criminal cases in Texas.
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§ 45A.051. ELECTRONIC RECORDS.
Official statutory text
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a document issued or maintained by a justice or municipal court or a notice or a citation issued by a law enforcement officer may be created by electronic means, including:
(1) optical imaging;
(2) optical disk;
(3) digital imaging; or
(4) another electronic reproduction technique that does not permit changes, additions, or deletions to the originally created document.
(b) A justice or municipal court may use electronic means to:
(1) produce a document required by law to be written;
(2) record an instrument, paper, or notice that is permitted or required by law to be recorded or filed; or
(3) maintain a docket.
(c) Information in a docket may be processed and stored using electronic data processing equipment, at the discretion of the justice or judge.
(d) A justice or municipal court shall maintain original documents as provided by law.
(e) An electronically recorded judgment has the same force and effect as a written signed judgment.
(f) A record created by electronic means is an original record or a certification of the original record.
(g) A printed copy of an optical image of the original record printed from an optical disk system is an accurate copy of the original record.
(h) A statutory requirement that a document contain the signature of any person, including a judge, clerk of the court, or defendant, is satisfied if the document contains that signature as captured on an electronic device.
(1) optical imaging;
(2) optical disk;
(3) digital imaging; or
(4) another electronic reproduction technique that does not permit changes, additions, or deletions to the originally created document.
(b) A justice or municipal court may use electronic means to:
(1) produce a document required by law to be written;
(2) record an instrument, paper, or notice that is permitted or required by law to be recorded or filed; or
(3) maintain a docket.
(c) Information in a docket may be processed and stored using electronic data processing equipment, at the discretion of the justice or judge.
(d) A justice or municipal court shall maintain original documents as provided by law.
(e) An electronically recorded judgment has the same force and effect as a written signed judgment.
(f) A record created by electronic means is an original record or a certification of the original record.
(g) A printed copy of an optical image of the original record printed from an optical disk system is an accurate copy of the original record.
(h) A statutory requirement that a document contain the signature of any person, including a judge, clerk of the court, or defendant, is satisfied if the document contains that signature as captured on an electronic device.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
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