A judge in County Criminal Court heard a status update in State of Texas v. Lu Yang Schullich as prosecutors said they will continue outreach to the complaining witness and aim for resolution before the next status hearing. The judge swore the court interpreter and directed the parties to keep pursuing contact.

The prosecutor described their outreach efforts and the office’s internal steps for victim contact. "The state will commence its final round of attempted outreach to the victim by the end of this week," the prosecutor said, adding that if those calls fail, the office "will be sending a letter next week" or send an investigator to contact the complainant. The prosecutor said the planned steps are required under the office’s internal procedures.

Defense counsel said they had been trying to obtain an update from the prosecutor and stressed that communication has been ongoing between defense and prosecution. One defense attorney, Mr. Tang, said the district attorney’s procedure requires exhausting all attempts to contact the complaining witness before discussing any plea offer: "I think the DA’s procedure is such ... a plea offer cannot be conferred until they have exhausted all attempt in to contact the complaint of witness," Tang said.

The interpreter, Johanna Hu, was sworn at the start of the hearing to translate between English and Mandarin. During the status exchange the interpreter clarified that her translations did not add or omit statements made by others in the courtroom.

The court recorded that the state will continue outreach and expressed hope the case could be resolved before the next status hearing scheduled for Oct. 2. No formal plea or other judicial action was taken at the hearing; the matter was continued for status.

The parties were excused at the close of the hearing.