Houston Chronicle 8/7/2018 By Mike Ward
Citing official lapses in the 2017 killing of a state trooper in East Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday proposed stricter requirements for releasing violent-crime defendants from jail to target people charged with assaulting police officers, and those accused of sex crimes.
Appearing at a Waco event with the widow of slain Trooper Damon Allen, who was gunned down during a Thanksgiving Day traffic stop on Interstate 45 near Fairfield, about 150 miles north of Houston, Abbott proposed modifying current laws “to emphasize the community, require a magistrate to consider the criminal history of a defendant and allow a magistrate to consider other relevant information, including impact on law enforcement†before setting bond for those defendants.
If the plan is approved, Abbott said “Texas will take meaningful steps to reform our bail system so that we can better protect innocent life, keep violent criminals off our streets and prevent tragedies like the death of Damon Allen.â€
“It’s time for action,†he said, flanked by Allen family members and top officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Targeting only serious-crime cases, Abbott’s changes would not affect bail-reform initiatives underway in several Texas cities, including Houston, to ensure that poor defendants charged with minor crimes are not kept in jail just because they cannot afford to post a cash bond.
Under current Texas law, bail may be set by any magistrate — from a county justice of the peace to judges in state district court.
Abbott endorsed allowing only district judges and their associate judges, not lower-court magistrates, to set bond in felony criminal cases and misdemeanors involving assault or sex offenses — and require that any courts reviewing bond “consider technical issues of mental health and family violence.â€
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Gov-Abbott-proposes-tougher-no-bail-rules-for-13137918.php