A Douglas County felony usually reaches the Ninth Judicial District Court only after a justice court has held a preliminary hearing and found probable cause, or the defendant has waived that hearing. From then on, this is the court where the case is tried, resolved, or sentenced, and the first deadline comes quickly: a challenge to the probable-cause finding has to be filed within 21 days of the first appearance here. The court sits in Minden, in the same building as the East Fork Justice Court, and it hears cases from Stateline and the rest of Tahoe as well as the Carson Valley.
I’m Theodore FitzGerald, a criminal defense lawyer in Stateline. I work from one rule: the government has to follow the law at every step, and the district court is where that rule gets tested hardest: motions, trials, and sentencing.
What the court hears in criminal cases
Douglas County is its own judicial district, the Ninth. The court’s site says it hears criminal cases for people charged with felonies and gross misdemeanors. That follows from how Nevada’s courts are built: justice courts have jurisdiction over misdemeanors and, apart from narrow statutory exceptions, no other crimes, so every gross misdemeanor and felony is decided here.
- Gross misdemeanor: unless the statute for the offense says otherwise, up to 364 days in county jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.
- Felony: prison exposure set by the category of felony. A third DUI within seven years is a category B felony, 1 to 6 years in prison and a $2,000 to $5,000 fine. A domestic battery by strangulation is a category C felony.
The court is also the appeals court for Douglas County’s two justice courts. A defendant convicted of a misdemeanor in the Tahoe Justice Court or the East Fork Justice Court has 10 days from the judgment to appeal. The appeal has to be set for hearing within 60 days of filing or it must be dismissed, and the district court does not retry the case: it decides the appeal on the record made in the justice court.
How a felony case gets here
Most felony cases start with a complaint in a justice court. That court does not take a plea on a felony. It holds a preliminary hearing within 15 days, unless the defendant waives it or the judge extends the time for good cause. If the evidence shows probable cause that the offense was committed and that the defendant committed it, the judge holds the defendant to answer in this court; otherwise the defendant is discharged. A waiver sends the case here immediately.
Within 15 days after the hearing or the waiver, the prosecutor files the charging document in district court, called the information. The district-court arraignment is held in open court: you get a copy of the information, the charge is read or its substance stated, and you are asked to plead. See What Happens After an Arrest in Douglas County, Nevada.
How do I challenge a bindover in Douglas County?
The usual route is a pretrial petition for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the preliminary hearing did not establish probable cause or that the court otherwise has no right to proceed to trial. Nevada law sets a short deadline. The court may not consider the petition unless it and all supporting documents are filed within 21 days after the defendant’s first appearance in district court, and the petition has to include a statement waiving the 60-day trial limit or consenting to a continuance if it is not decided in time.
The court can extend the time for good cause, and good cause is deemed to exist if the preliminary-hearing transcript isn’t available within 14 days of the first appearance. The arraignment cannot be continued to get around the deadline. The petition is argued on the transcript of the preliminary hearing, which is why what happens at that hearing matters well beyond the hearing itself.
Can I appear by Zoom in the Douglas County district court?
Only with a signed order. The court publishes its own procedure, and it is stricter than the justice courts’:
- Anyone who wants to appear by Zoom “shall file a formal written request” with the clerk, with a separate proposed order.
- Filing the request does not approve it. The judge has to sign the order, and the court requires preauthorization for hearings that are presumptively in person.
- Anyone testifying remotely has to join with video on, and hard copies of exhibits have to reach the clerk and the other side at least three judicial days before the hearing.
Nevada’s presence statute also applies. A defendant has to be present at arraignment, at every stage of trial, and at sentencing unless the law provides otherwise. For an offense punishable by a fine or by no more than a year, which includes the ordinary gross misdemeanor, the court may, with the defendant’s written consent, permit arraignment, plea, trial, and sentencing in the defendant’s absence once it is satisfied the defendant understood the rights involved. That provision does not reach felonies. Someone charged with a felony should plan on being in the courtroom for the hearings that count. See Handling a Nevada Criminal Case Without Living in Nevada.
When a remote appearance is approved, treat it like a courtroom. Use a quiet room, a working camera and microphone, and dress as you would for court. In my experience judges notice, and a clean remote appearance makes the next request easier to grant.
Working with FitzGerald Law in the Ninth Judicial District Court
A felony case is prepared for this court from the start, in the justice court. The preliminary hearing is treated as the record a habeas petition would rest on, and the 21-day deadline is calendared from the first district-court appearance. Where a remote appearance is possible, my office files the formal request with a proposed order and sets up the appearance once the order is signed, and you are told in advance which hearings the court will require you to attend in Minden. My office handles the court’s filing requirements, including its e-filing system.
If a misdemeanor case in Tahoe or East Fork Justice Court ends in a conviction worth appealing, the appeal is planned before the sentencing date, because the 10-day window starts at the judgment.
Address and contact
Ninth Judicial District Court, Douglas County 1038 Buckeye Road, Minden, NV 89423 (mail: P.O. Box 218, Minden, NV 89423) Phone: (775) 782-9820 · Fax: (775) 782-9954 Filing office: Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Court website: douglasdistrictcourt.com (e-filing, record searches, and the Request to Appear Remotely form)
The date on your paperwork is already set. Hire me now, and I’ll get to work on everything that comes before it. Call FitzGerald Law.