Harris County (Houston) Through the Looking-Glass

In Alice Through the Looking-Glass, author Lewis Carroll created a sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Alice climbs through a mirror and enters a world beyond the one she can normally see. Everything there is reversed, just like a reflection in a mirror -- even logic itself. In this bizarre reality, running helps one remain stationary, while walking away actually brings one closer.

In 2019, Harris County, Texas entered its own "looking glass," where logic and reason are similarly reversed. This new world sprang into existence as a result of a settlement in the federal class action case of ODonnell v. Harris County. Through this agreement the public has been told that simply releasing criminal defendants without accountability will make everyone safer, even though it is creating more crime. They have also been informed that the growing numbers of failures to appear are not the cause of the increasing numbers of pending cases, although they are. And they were advised that the escalating number of confrontations between law enforcement officers and individuals who fail to appear is not related to the settlement, despite the fact that it came about as a direct result. When up is down and down is up, it does not take long to realize you are in a world that has taken a break from reality.

Harris County did not have to go down this road. In 2018, it was on track to win the ODonnell case, which involved a woman with a history of misdemeanor charges, who was arrested once more. Her lawyers argued that she was unlawfully denied the right to bail because of her inability to pay the amount prescribed by the bail schedule entered by Harris County's misdemeanor judges.

The case made it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which issued multiple opinions reversing and/or staying the trial court's orders. Throughout the litigation, the defendants expressed a willingness to settle, setting up procedures that would ensure Harris County's criminal justice system would comply with the federal constitution.

However, the plaintiffs' attorneys refused any settlement that did not include eliminating the private surety bail system in Harris County for most misdemeanor cases. Speaking at a conference, one lawyer for the plaintiffs conceded that they could not win the legal arguments.

Looking for a different path to victory, the plaintiffs and their allies sought to replace sitting judges with those who would side with them in the November 2018 election -- a strategy that worked.

In January 2019, Harris County's new judges dismissed the appeal and enacted Local Rule 9.1 that essentially gave the plaintiffs' attorneys everything they wanted. The county also agreed to allow defendants to miss court on multiple occasions without suffering any negative consequences. Finally, the county agreed to pay for a study regarding why people fail to appear for court. It also agreed to fund its recommendations even if the study concluded that accused defendants needed not only free cell phones, but free rides to court or free childcare as well.

The settlement did not save the county any money. While the county had paid approximately $8 million in attorneys' fees to defend the lawsuit (which they were winning), in the settlement, the county agreed to spend nearly $100 million for a down payment to fund all of the programs agreed to in the settlement which were not even required by law!

The enormous expenditure of public money aside, the ultimate test of these new programs was whether they would make the criminal justice system better. By all practical measures, the changes are actually doing the opposite and making the system worse. This is demonstrable because it has altered the fundamental purpose of bail.

Historically, the purpose of bail is to allow persons who have been arrested to be released from jail as they await resolution of their criminal cases. Because the Texas Constitution authorizes release only with sufficient sureties, it falls on a surety bondsman to ensure that these individuals appear in court when ordered.

The American criminal justice system is based upon the concept that society metes out the least amount of punishment needed in order to get the accused back on track. First-time convictions receive less punishment than repeat offenders. In a normal world this same concept applies to bail. A person arrested for the first time needs less of an assurance that they will return for court. Someone with a substantial history normally must give more assurances that they will appear when demanded.

Each time an accused fails to appear for court, the criminal justice system sustains considerable damage. Their case must be put on hold until they return, thus slowing down the entire process. The system created by the settlement turns the very concept of bail on its head. Defendants can miss court with impunity and they cannot be punished. Moreover, if a defendant is arrested for a new crime, the accused must be released again on a new personal recognizance bond without additional assurances. When there is no accountability, defendants learn that they do not have to appear.

Approximately one year into the new system, Harris County is already seeing substantial negative consequences. The number of cases pending have increased substantially -- 100 percent by some accounts. In any given year, law enforcement in the county has made an average of 50,000 misdemeanor arrests, which translates to almost 1,000 arrests per week. This flow could be handled by the old system, but since implementation of Local Rule 9.1, the number of pending cases has nearly doubled because the courts cannot hold to account people who do not appear as required.

Anything that slows cases from being resolved or causes them to be put on hold allows a backlog to grow over time. What we're witnessing in Harris County is the rapidly growing number of new cases, which are exceeding the small number of cases being resolved within the same period of time. This is a recipe for disaster.

Because the number of defendants missing court in Harris County has increased, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of warrants pending. This is a problem because during traffic stops, law enforcement routinely checks for outstanding warrants. If a defendant is pulled over and knows he has missed court, he must make a split-second decision whether to surrender or fight and run. A poor decision in the heat-of-the-moment jeopardizes public safety and the lives of law enforcement.

These results are not a surprise to those working in the criminal justice system. The settlement was the result of demands made by attorneys and activists with no criminal justice experience as the cost of settlement when the county lost the will to continue the fight. In this hyper-politicized time, if we dare to gaze into the looking glass, we would see that things truly are topsy-turvy. Up is down and down is up; good is bad and bad is good. In this reality, missing court makes the criminal justice system better, while having more warrants does not endanger the public or law enforcement, even though common sense says the opposite.

In Alice Through the Looking-Glass, readers are asked whether the entire story was only a dream. In Harris County, we are waking up to a real-life nightmare of unintended and catastrophic consequences that will leave the region damaged for years to come.

Our society has gone insane. Eliminate bail. Set criminals free with no way to ensure that they will appear in court when they are supposed to. Open borders: Don’t enforce immigration laws, or any other laws you don’t like. Pass unconstitutional gun control legislation. Declare one’s gender. Many, many gender options. Free everything: Somebody else will pay for it.

We have gone looney tunes for sure.

Except for medical services around downtown Houston, I wouldn’t go to that liberal hell-hole if my life depended on it......and these days it would. Lock and load if you have to go there. The loons have indeed taken over and have lots and lots of useful idiots to vote them in and keep them there.......

I know one junior prosecutor, who calls herself a liberal, who was fired by Ogg because she was not along with the program. Her complaint about Ogg was that she was more for pursuing her personal agenda at the expense of enforcing the law. Yes, that was a complaint from a self described liberal (who was raised in farm country so maybe she will realize that she’s not as lefty as she thinks).

This entire thing looks like it has George Soros’ chaos-sowing fingers all over it.

He is succeeding, nation-wide.

Many people have forgotten the importance of local politics, and GS has taken advantage.

I remember there were CONSERVATIVES who thought our bail system sucked.

Idiots.

Isn’t that partly the result of Hurricane Katrina?

To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I just know Houston has been under Demonrat influence and I think Soros money has been flooding races all over the place. The Demons were successful in voting straight Demonrat ticket and it showed in the races for instance like county judge.......a 26 year old latina who was a translator at a hospital (so I heard, so don’t quote me as to what she did before) and was successful in getting mostly latino’s to pull straight D ticket and she’s now the county judge. It’s a mell of a hess. Glad I don’t live there anymore but it’s still close enough to keep up on what’s going on there and it ain’t good.......

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