Judge Rosenthal heard testimony from the Hearing Officers setting bail amounts on the front lines and poignantly found them non-credible: "The Hearing Officers' testimony that they do not 'know' whether imposing secured money bail will have the effect of detention in any given case ... and their testimony that they do not intend that secured money bail have that effect, is not credible." In fact, she attributed "little to no credibility in the Hearing Officers' claims of careful case-by-case consideration." In the hearings she watched, they "treat the bail schedule, if not binding, then as a nearly irrebuttable presumption in favor of applying secured money bail at the prescheduled amount."
If Judge Rosenthal were Politfact columnist, she'd be giving the Hearing Officers a "Pants on Fire" rating. To the extent that appellate courts must rely on her credibility assessments, and on many topics, they must, those lines may well preclude quite a few appellate paths for the defendants.
Her critique extended beyond the Hearing Officers, though to elected judges acting as "policymakers" overseeing Harris' County pretrial-detention mill, whom she found to be willfully and conveniently ignorant about the human impact of they system they're running:
policymakers are apparently unaware of important facts about the bail-bond system in Harris County, yet they have devised and implemented bail practices and customs, having the force of policy, with no inquiry into whether the bail policy is a reasonable way to achieve the goals of assuring appearance at trial or law-abiding behavior before trial. In addition to the absence of any information about the relative performance of secured and unsecured conditions of release to achieve these goals, the policymakers have testified under oath that their policy would not change despite evidence showing that release on unsecured personal bonds or with no financial conditions is no less effective than release on secured money bail at achieving the goals of appearance at trial or avoidance of new criminal activity during pretrial release.That's exactly right - they're not going to change unless somebody makes them, and Judge Rosenthal clearly has decided she's that somebody.
Grits has been singing this song for years and am glad to have such a powerful voice join the chorus. Indeed, while Judge Rosenthal must give judicial "policymakers" the benefit of the doubt and conclude they are "apparently unaware" of these things - because that's what they testified - Grits doesn't believe it for a second, having engaged in frank conversations with more than a few of those policymakers over the years. They knew. They just didn't care. But a 193-page ruling for plaintiffs by a federal judge has a way of making policymakers care about issues that weren't priorities for them before. The injunction flat-out forbids Harris County detaining misdemeanor defendants solely because they can't pay, and asserts the the federal court will craft the new system so that it passes constitutional muster.
Meanwhile Texas' bail reform legislation - SB 1338 by Whitmire - is on the intent calendar and eligible for a vote in the senate this week. In light of Judge Rosenthal's ruling - what seemed before like a bold step now almost seems timid. But all these concurrent trends are at least headed in the right direction.
MORE: From the Houston Press.
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14 comments:
This is great news. Keep the pressure on!
This is great news. Keep the pressure on!
AMEN. Now, what about unjust probation?
Sorry, 1:16. A not yet convicted defendant will always be more sympathetic than a convicted person who has asked for probation as a kind of merciful act. Maybe next session....
What about How Unconstitutional Civil Commitment is being processed. These Men are being left to Die.They need to have a amount of time as they are placed in treatment.They need to evaluate these men due to they were not processed in court correctly according o law by Judge and court appoint attorney and DA were all in hands together and client was not at all defended.These men have completed their Sentence Time.The Men were mysteriously found with a mental disorder called Mental Abnormality as they were Low Risk.How can this Be Fixed? The main person behind it, is Senator Whitmire.There cant be Secret Prisons like the one in Littlefield.The Court House says Justice and Trust, but it is not being Followed.Why?Why?Who can make these Changes?Judges and Lawyers.Us people can Remove Whitmire.We want Changes.In Littlefield these men are going to counseling once a week and the treatment people are always different, they dont even know their clients name due to the providers are always different.
Yet these godless bastards in charge have no authority to make rules, customs or policy that would override the written laws. They do it because it's expedient; and especially, if it's not written, they can deny it--once caught.
Another example, using the Administrative Code to override clear points in the real Codes, e.g., the Transportation Code. Thus, officers trying to apply the maybe-this-or-that-shrug apparent laws are left to blame, when everybody to whom they are accountable KNOWS they are (intentionally) not trained in law (TCLEOSE doesn't even give them the whole Trans. Code), and in many cases, Cops are not SUPPOSED to make legal decisions. An example in the Admin Code is the "moving violations," over 200 undefined items that can conflict with the Transportation Code.
As you pointed out, G: THEY WON'T CHANGE, UNLESS THEY HAVE TO. And like most gov agencies, bureaucrats, etc., they would rather be punitive, than helpful.
Great decision and kudos to all the involved parties and judge Rosenthal. This decision must be replicated not only in the entire country but the world over where poor prisoners are deprived of their right to get bail because of lack of money.
Yes many thanks to those involved in setting right the wronge that has been done because it shows something can be done about the injustice perpetrated by those who are suppose to up hold the law. How sick is it addressing them as your honor or being told to stand when they enter the court room? This victory by the Civil Rights Corps gives hope that something can be done to stop these monsters.What about illegal Driver Responsibility Program seems no relief in sight for yet another two years thus calling for a lawsuit against all those who passed it unto law,starting with Rick Perry
This is long overdue. One of the cornerstones of our legal system is that a person is innocent until proven guilty, but our bail bond system treats people just the opposite. In one of these cases, a woman spent three days in jail after being arrested for driving with an invalid license, and she was indigent. Another was a pregnant woman with a Down's Syndrome child who couldn't afford bail after being arrested for failure to identify to a police officer. Those are Class C misdemeanors that should not call for three or four days in jail (as these two women did). The primary reasons to keep people locked up are 1) they're a danger to others, 2) they've shown to be a risk to flee, or 3) they continually choose to flip off the law. The vast majority will show up for their hearings without the need to post a financial bond.
Can't wait for the sequel in the district courts where people are denied PR bonds in under a gram controlled substance cases where often then substance turns out not to be contraband or the cops fail to preserve the evidence and don't even let the defense know it is gone while defendant sits jail awaiting a fatally flawed prosecution.
What about McLennan DA county Abel Reyna?
Today, May 6, a bondsman in Lubbock wrote a letter to the editor in the Lubbock AJ opposing (naturally) this bill. He talks about the expense to counties or districts to institute the Automated Risk Assessment Tool software. How much does it cost? I've never heard, but I know that keeping people in jail when they haven't been convicted of anything, have a family to feed, have a job that they will lose because of the detention costs the county a bundle Hockley County where I live pays to house detainees in other counties, and that is a direct expense each month. How much could this software possibly cost? Anybody know?
Thank you for uploading the opinion! This is great news and can serve as support in attacking other unfair and unjustifiable laws and judicially declared but scientifically unsound theories (such as civil commitment) that likewise are simply parroted in case after case by trial courts and appellate courts alike simply because it is easier and faster to process the paperwork than to give tough issues real thought.
Rosenthal doesn't have world wide jurisdiction.
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