Art. 4.16 CONCURRENT JURISDICTION

If more than one court has the authority to handle a criminal case, the first court where charges are filed is the one that keeps the case. This means once a prosecutor files an indictment or complaint in a court that has proper authority, that court holds onto the case rather than another court that could have also handled it.

This rule prevents confusion and conflict between courts. Without it, two courts might both try to handle the same case at the same time, or people could try to file in a different court hoping for a different result. By giving priority to whichever court receives the filing first, the rule keeps the process orderly and predictable.

There is one exception. Article 4.12 lays out a specific situation where this first-filed rule does not apply. In that case, the normal rule about which court keeps jurisdiction gives way to whatever Article 4.12 requires instead.