How SB 6 Could Impact Bexar County




SAN ANTONIO – The Bexar County court system is bracing for a new bail reform law that goes into effect Dec. 2.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 6, or the Damon Allen Act, on Monday. Allen was a state trooper who was murdered in 2017 by a man who was out on bond.

The law will ban the release of people accused of violent crimes on personal recognizance bonds, or PR bonds. It will now require defendants instead to post the amount of cash set by the court.

In Bexar County, where 80% of those arrested are indigent or a minority, it leads to a disproportionate law that affects only the poor. That’s something the Bexar County Public Defender’s Office sees as a huge problem since all its clients are indigent.

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