Dawson County District Court, Texas Sealing & Redaction Procedures

Criminal cases

The District Clerk must promptly seal and keep confidential covered mental-health reports in felony criminal cases; they may not be unsealed or disclosed without District Court approval, subject to the cited statutory exceptions.

IT IS ORDERED that the office of the District Clerk of Dawson, Gaines, Garza and Lynn Counties, Texas shall promptly seal and maintain as confidential all written reports, assessments and mental health evaluations that are filed in felony criminal cases in the District Court of Dawson, Gaines, Garza and Lynn County, Texas, in which a person's competency to stand trial, sanity, or other mental health condition(s) is I are at issue and have been addressed. Subject to the exceptions stated in Articles 468 & 46C, Texas Code Criminal Procedure; IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that any such filed evaluations, assessments and reports shall not be unsealed or disclosed to any person or entity, unless disclosure of same has been otherwise ordered and approved by the District Court of Dawson, Gaines, Garza and Lynn Counties, Texas.