The Professional Bondsmen of Texas- Blog

The Honorable Ralph Strother retired from the 19th District Court in Waco, McClennan County, Texas.  He was on the bench for 22 years where he tried many high profile criminal cases.  He was appointed to the bench by then Governor George Bush.   In this episode of the Bail Post, Judge Strother talks about his incredible career, his family and his insights for addressing increasing case backlogs, setting bail and bail reform.  Judge Strother has great insights about the process of setting bail.  As we see judges in Harris County denying that they are responsible for setting bail and blaming rising crime on the district attorney, it is refreshing to listen to a retired district court judge talk straight that  the judges have the responsibility under Texas law to set bail and to continue to oversee the bond after the defendant is released on bail.  According to Judge Strother, if a judge believes that the defendant's current bond is not sufficient to ensure appearance, that the defend

  The lawmaker who introduced a bill that would allow some non-violent defendants to be free without bail as they await trial is now asking the governor to veto it. State Rep. Scot Matayoshi says the bill was introduced to address unfairness within the bail system. None of the four police departments in Hawaii submitted testimony against the legislation. But as soon as it passed, there was quite a bit of opposition that wasn’t presented during the public hearing process. If approved by the governor, the bill would allow those who commit certain crimes such as shoplifting, property damage and theft to leave custody without bail. After hearing from opponents of House Bill 1567, Matayoshi now agrees the bill was too broad. “Maybe what we need to do is to come back with a bill that instead of creating exemptions creates or enumerates the exact crimes that this bill will apply to so we can avoid any of the ones that might endanger the public in the future,” he said. Lee Curran, of Faith Act

  Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg exchanged heated words this week after Hidalgo publicly described Ogg's ongoing investigation of Hidalgo's staffers as a "political vendetta, a political exercise, under the guise of a criminal investigation." The judge’s remarks were made during a Tuesday press conference urging childcare providers to apply for unspent COVID-19 relief funds. The next morning, Hidalgo continued assailing Ogg's investigation in a tweet: "I expect this political exercise to continue through Election Day. She’ll have me indicted. Or name a 'special prosecutor' —an illusion of independence since those are still beholden to the DA. She did that before in a political prosecution that went nowhere. I’m not deterred." Ogg responded on Thursday to Hidalgo’s comments in a statement: "We will try this case, like every other criminal case, in a court of law before a jury of peers, and we will

  Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg says ongoing attacks by County Judge Lina Hidalgo have to stop. Hidalgo this week increased her attacks on Ogg, calling the indictment of three of Hidalgo's staffers in a public corruption case "political" and alleging Ogg will "have me indicted." Ogg responded Thursday saying the DA's office is committed to seeking justice by relying on evidence to bring cases before the grand jury, courts and jury trials. "The nearly daily public misstatements being made by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo about pending felony cases brought against three members of her staff now compel comment to the public by this office and by me, the top law enforcement official in Harris County. Failing to do so allows a top county official, in her official capacity, to continue to improperly influence those people of Harris County who will serve on the jury in this case. This harms everyone, including the accused, and must stop," Ogg

  Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo on Tuesday accused District Attorney Kim Ogg of pursuing a political vendetta to try to push her out of office. Three of Hidalgo’s staffers have been accused of communicating with a vendor, Elevate Strategies, to tailor an $11 million contract's scope of work in order to cater to the company's strengths. The DA's office has denied using the investigation for political purposes. Now, in her first one-on-one interview about the investigation into her staff, Hidalgo goes into detail about why she believes that investigation is political, answers whether she would step down from her role as county judge if her staff is convicted, and mulls what she expects will come next — including the possibility of her own indictment. You said on Tuesday that District Attorney Kim Ogg was playing politics with this criminal investigation regarding Elevate Strategies. Can you elaborate on that? I’m watching what’s happening and I think it’s very clear that s

  A policy that reduced certain misdemeanor offenses to zero bail throughout the San Diego County jail system, which was instituted to reduce the overall jail population during the COVID-19 pandemic, will be rescinded as of Sunday, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department said Friday. The emergency bail modification enacted in early 2020 allowed those arrested for certain minor crimes such as drug possession or petty theft to avoid custody, while those already in jail for those offenses and with no other pending cases were released on their own recognizance. According to a sheriff's department statement, a "significant decrease" in the county jail system's COVID-19 cases played a large role in a San Diego Superior Court order rescinding the zero-bail policy. Starting Sunday, those charges that qualified for zero bail will have set bail amounts imposed again. Those amounts will be based on those outlined in the San Diego Superior Court Bail Schedule. The sheriff&#

  A controversial measure to rewrite the Ohio Constitution’s standards for setting bail was put on hold in the state House on Wednesday. Substitute House Joint Resolution 2 and matching House Bill 607 came up for votes by the full chamber, but on a motion by state Rep. Timothy Ginter, R-Columbiana County, both were “informally passed” — not receiving a vote, but kept on the legislature’s calendar for further work. That delays any potential vote with less than a month left in the legislative session. Both measures would still need committee and floor votes to be sent on for Senate consideration. The resolution and bill are sponsored by state Reps. Jeff LaRe, R-Violet Twp., and D.J. Swearingen, R-Huron. Both were introduced in March and hurried through four committee hearings, and they passed the House Criminal Justice Committee last week. The resolution seeks to place an initiative on the November 8 ballot that would write new requirements for setting bail into the Ohio Constitution. Th

  In a Wednesday morning tweet posted by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the 31-year-old made it clear that she expects to face criminal charges in an ongoing investigation involving the Texas Rangers and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The tweet said, in part, “she’ll have me indicted,” in reference to District Attorney Kim Ogg. It is the second day in a row that Hidalgo has publicly discussed the investigation into the nearly $11 million contract awarded to Elevate Strategies as a politically-motivated investigation by the DA’s Office. I expect this political exercise to continue through Election Day. She’ll have me indicted. Or name a “special prosecutor”—an illusion of independence since those are still beholden to the DA. She did that before in a political prosecution that went nowhere. I’m not deterred. https://t.co/M9tT1wC0Bn — Lina Hidalgo (@LinaHidalgoTX) May 18, 2022 Last month, three of her senior staffers - Alex Triantaphyllis, Wallis Nader and Aaron Dunn -

James Lindblad says he's concerned Bill HB 1567 will be signed. "Its going to create more crime, and that impacts public safety. It impacts my family. We've had 3 incidents at my building. My accountant has been beat up with a golf club. Our janitor was beat up with a skateboard. Just random acts of violence right here on my street," said local business owner Lindblad. He's got special information on how criminals work, because he's a bail bondsman. He says the change won't really affect his business. The bill is aimed at releasing without bail those who are awaiting trial for non-violent C-Felonies, and Misdemeanors. "Mainly it's stealing, breaking into stores, taking things off the shelf, breaking things out of cars, taking things out of cars, and going after tourists because they don't like tourists," said Lindblad. He's also concerned about the number of crimes going up, people getting out to do worse crimes, or repeating crimes t

  Even after lawmakers in Albany approved another rollback of the 2019 bail reform law that eliminated pretrial detention in the vast majority of cases, the issue remains an incredibly contentious one. On Friday, John Jay College of Criminal Justice hosted a conference featuring lawmakers, criminal justice advocates, legal experts and journalists to delve into that ongoing debate that will surely continue well past the end of the 2022 legislative session.  The bail law most recently changed as part of this year’s state budget, coming as a last minute push from Gov. Kathy Hochul that upended the negotiations up to that point. The amendments approved in April made more gun crimes eligible for bail and gave judges greater discretion to consider factors other than flight risk when determining bail or pretrial detention. Democrats in the state Legislature resisted greater changes, like adding a so-called dangerousness clause that would have allowed judges to weigh the potential danger a def

  A South Carolina bail bondsman could face a charge of contempt of court for failing to report alleged bail violations of a man who later pleaded guilty in an assault case. Reginald Illery, of Illery’s GPS Monitoring Service, is accused of failing to alert authorities that a man out on bond on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct had violated the conditions of his bond numerous times. Bowen Turner, now 19, was originally arrested on Jan. 29, 2019, and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct in Bamberg County, court documents state. A judge granted bond for Turner with the condition that he wear an ankle monitor. That requirement, however, was removed on April 11, 2019. Turner was then arrested on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in an unrelated case on June 12, 2019, in Orangeburg County. The judge in the Orangeburg County case, the Honorable George McFaddin, set a $100,000 surety bond on Aug. 5, 2019, with several conditions that included home de

  American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and the Bail Project announced a lawsuit on Wednesday against the state over whether a newly enacted law is constitutional and targets The Bail Project. The lawsuit argues HEA1300 violates The Bail Project’s First Amendment rights. HEA1300 puts restrictions on charitable bail organizations by restricting who it can pay bail for. “The First Amendment allows us all to advocate for our positions and it’s commonly understood that one way of doing that is with money,” Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana, said. “The Supreme Court has told us that if you’re going to impinge on that right, limit that right, there must be very good reasons for doing so.” Under the new law, which goes into effect on July 1, charitable organizations can only pay bail for an indigent person who is not charged with a crime of violence or a person charged with a felony who does not have a prior conviction for a crime of violence. They are not able to bail out m

  In an abrupt policy about-face amid an aggressive recall effort, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón has lifted an order that prohibited prosecutors from seeking cash bail for defendants charged with nonviolent crimes. Chief Deputy District Attorney Sharon Woo said in a Thursday, May 13, memo that the District Attorney’s Office remains committed to the rapid development of a well-funded, robust, pretrial services program that “balances the rights of the accused while protecting public safety.” “Despite the significant efforts by community justice partners, a comprehensive pre-trial services program has not been fully realized,” the memo states. “After listening to the community, victims, and members of this office, I have decided to allow limited exceptions to the pre-trial release policy while such a program is finalized.” As a result, prosecutors can request cash bail for defendants charged with misdemeanors, nonserious felonies, or nonviolent offenses who have commi

  A state court judge in Paterson has refused to release a Midland Park man charged in a Prospect Park shooting. That defendant, Rahjshone Newkirk, 23, and borough resident Tylaire Clark, 22, had been sought by police after two people reported being shot at on Hopper Street around 6 p.m. Feb. 2, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Prospect Park Police Chief Ammen Matari said in a joint release. Their vehicle was struck, but the victims’ weren’t wounded, they said. Borough police nabbed Newkirk on North 8th Street last Thursday, May 12.  Despite a state bail reform law that has forced the release of various types of offenders, Superior Court Judge Joseph Portelli ordered that Newkirk remain held in the Passaic County Jail following a first court appearance on Wednesday, May 18. Clark was arrested on East Main Street on Tuesday, May 17. He has a first court appearance scheduled for May 23. Both men face weapons-related charges in addition to the attempted murder count. To see

  Smash and grab burglaries of businesses, car break-ins, arson, and theft are among the crimes in which suspects would be eligible to get released without having to post bail if Gov. David Ige signs House Bill 1567 into law. State Sen. Kurt Fevella and Honolulu City Councilman Augie Tulba represent Ewa Beach, where a number of smash and grab burglaries have recently happened. They are hosting a rally at the state Capitol on Tuesday from 4:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m., urging the governor to veto the bail reform bill. KITV4 asked Fevella why HB 1567 was passed out of the Legislature. He replied: "Everybody thought this bill was good because they only read the part about not having the jails to be crowded. And I never say their staff or they themselves didn't do research on the bill. I not saying that but I'm saying is that everybody thought it was a good intention to less crowded and I think that's the part of the bill that they agreed on." "But they didn't re

  There is a battle between bail legislation happening at the Ohio Statehouse: a bipartisan effort that lawmakers say would fix a broken system versus the Republican-proposed resolution that they say would promote public safety. House Bill 315 and Senate Bill 182 are companion bills; House Joint Resolution 2 and Senate Joint Resolution 5 are, as well. There is a battle between bail legislation happening at the Ohio Statehouse: a bipartisan effort that lawmakers say would fix a broken system versus the Republican-proposed resolution that they say would promote public safety. House Bill 315 and Senate Bill 182 are companion bills; House Joint Resolution 2 and Senate Joint Resolution 5 are, as well. H.B. 315 (and its substitute) was introduced by state Reps. David Leland, a Democrat from Columbus, and Brett Hillyer, a Republican from Uhrichsville. S.B. 182 by Republican state Sens. Rob McColley, from Napoleon, and Stephen Huffman, from Tipp City. H.J.R. 2 was introduced by state House Rep

  An NYPD bigwig blamed bail reform for the number of guns flooding the Big Apple’s streets and worried about the proliferation of untraceable “ghost guns” in a radio interview that aired Sunday. “There has not been a time in modern history where this many people have been walking around with guns not fearful of the consequences,” Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller told host John Catsimatidis on his WABC 770 AM radio show. Miller pointed to an incident just last week to illustrate his point. An NYPD cop, Officer Dennis Vargas, of the Bronx Borough public safety team, was shot in the arm in an exchange of gunfire with a man who had been freed ahead of a sentencing date connected to a past gun bust. The suspect, Rameek Smith, was killed in the Tuesday shootout. “So you see the triangle of quality of life crimes lead to people involved in other violations of the law, including violent crimes,” Miller said. City and police officials have made shootings a p