texas municipal-bylaws
Can you contest a parking citation in Houston and get a jury trial?
<p>I've always wondered aside from a <a href="http://www.houstontx.gov/parking/resolve.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;hearing&quot; to contest a citation, as described here</a> is there any way to get an actual Jury Trial for a parking citation?</p>
<p>There is a mention of an appeal if you're &quot;dissatisfied with the hearing officer's decision&quot;. This appeal is done at the Municipal Court, but it doesn't say whether or not this appeal means your entitled to a jury trial.</p>
<p>If I really want a jury trial on a parking ticket, can I get one in Houston? If so, how?</p>

<p>Traffic offenses, which are generally class C misdemeanors in Texas, and more generally, pretty much any offense for which you are required to appear in person at the court in Texas (which can result in issuance of a warrant for your arrest if you fail to appear) will generally be subject to the right to trial by jury in Texas.</p>
<p>Note that this is not a U.S. constitutional requirement unless one can be incarcerated for six months or more for the offense, so, in all other cases, the right to a jury trial in traffic cases is a right that arises solely under the State of Texas Constitution and by state statute and state court rules.</p>
<p>But, generally speaking, a parking violation in Texas in punishable with an administrative citation for which only a small fine is authorized, in which there is no right to a jury trial. <em>See, e.g.</em>, <a href="https://texreg.sos.state.tx.us/public/readtac$ext.TacPage?sl=R&amp;app=9&amp;p_dir=&amp;p_rloc=&amp;p_tloc=&amp;p_ploc=&amp;pg=1&amp;p_tac=&amp;ti=37&amp;pt=1&amp;ch=3&amp;rl=171" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this regulation</a> governing parking violations on the property of the state capitol in Austin. More pertinent to the question, in particular, this <a href="https://www.houstontx.gov/courts/parking_citations.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">also appears to be the case</a> in the City of Houston (see also <a href="http://www.houstontx.gov/parking/Parking-Regulations-and-Violations.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>).</p>
<p>This process is governed by Texas Transportation Code §§ 682.001 to 682.011. This makes parking violations under municipal ordinances civil offenses punishable by civil fines imposed in administrative hearings before a &quot;hearing officer&quot; (i.e. a parking court judge). Failure to attend the hearing confesses liability but is not otherwise wrongful. An unpaid fine is enforced by a lawsuit rather than a criminal charge.</p>
<p>The U.S. Constitution's 7th Amendment does not confer a right to a trial by jury in civil matters which is strictly a function of state law. And, while the Texas Right to a Jury Trial under Article 1, Section 15 of the Texas Constitution is very broad, <a href="https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4516&amp;context=smulr" rel="nofollow noreferrer">it does not include reviews of administrative decisions</a>, which are what parking hearings and appeals of them to a municipal court are classified as being.</p>
