The Professional Bondsmen of Texas- Blog

  Our guest on this episode of The Bail Post is the sitting district attorney for Harris County- Kim Ogg.  D.A. Ogg was first elected to become district attorney in 2016 with the support of a Soros political group.  She was re-elected in 2020 without the support of a Soros political group. D.A. Ogg was present for all the inside political discussions for criminal justice reform/bail reform in Harris County.  D.A. Ogg initially supported the reforms, but once she concluded that the proposed reforms went too far, she opposed them. On this episode of The Bail Post D.A. Ogg tells all.  Join us and see if you come to the same conclusion that we did-  Wow! Audio Podcast- Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                        CLICK HERE Google Podcasts-        CLICK HERE Podcast Index- ...

  Our gravest concerns, though, involve Hidalgo’s failure to respond with urgency to Harris County’s crime wave. In a county where more than two-thirds of likely voters list public safety as the most important issue in this race, it weighed heavily on our decision. Even for those of us whose neighborhoods aren’t aglow in flashing police lights, the seemingly infinite ticker tape of suspect mug shots on the 10 o’clock news has us looking over our shoulders and praying that the next road rage incident won’t target our families. While Harris County is far from the most dangerous place in the country, as Republican hyperbole would have it, it has seen a surge in violent crime and particularly in homicides, which totaled 632 last year. The county jail is in crisis, overflowing with more than 10,000 inmates, with frequent spasms of violence, reported deaths, rapes and other assaults leaving inmates and jail staff alike fearing for their lives. Mercifully, violent crime is currently...

Newmax presented a story this morning about the shocking failure to appear rates found in Harris County, Texas for the misdemeanor court following bail reform.  Their guest was PBT's own Ken W. Good.  You can listen to the presentation below.

With Harris County's criminal court system mired in delay, disfunction, and hobbled by a monster case backlog, the Harris County Jail population is busting at the seams - currently at 99.8% of capacity with 9,688 inmates.  "We are just not going to have the capacity to sustain a jail operation," warned Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.   Gonzalez pleaded with the Harris County Commissioners Court to fund a $25 million plan to shift inmates to a private West Texas prison.  "We are not going to get out of this anytime soon. We really don't have a choice, in my opinion," said Gonzalez.  Advocates for jail inmates objected, calling the transfer of prisoners to a facility 500 miles away "inhumane."  "Post, Texas is eight hours away. This puts undue stress on those who are already struggling in life," said Mo Cortez, an opponent of the outsourcing plan.   "Consider what it means for them to be forced to wait for their day in court so far ...

  By Douglas Griffith President of the Houston Police Officers' Union The Harris County criminal justice system was changed in 2019 after a high-profile court case resulted in a settlement agreed to by misdemeanor court judges who were serving at the time. The County entered into a consent decree in the case of ODonnell v. Harris County, which changed bail for misdemeanor cases. This consent decree effectively released almost all misdemeanor defendants on a free PR bond without ever seeing a judge, or anyone checking their prior criminal record. The county was set to spend over 97 million, to implement the settlement, but to say things have not run smoothly is an understatement. This past January, ODonnell was reversed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, yet the county refused to revisit the settlement. The County could have asked the federal court to vacate the decree but decided against it. Meanwhile, Texas Senate Bill 6 was passed thanks to Senator Huffman, changing Texas law...

  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 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 coun...

  The New York City mother of an 11-month-old girl who was struck by a stray bullet in the Bronx last month when she was caught in the crossfire of a gunfight is calling for reforms, telling Fox News Digital, "Safety and right to life, liberty and justice matter." Miraida Gomez, 32, was inside a vehicle parked at the intersection of East 198th Street and Valentine Avenue Jan. 19 when her baby daughter, less than a year old, suffered a gunshot wound to the face. Two weeks later, ahead of President Biden’s Thursday trip to New York City, Gomez called for changes to bail laws, the prosecution of known gun offenders and license-to-carry laws. "These judges shouldn’t feel pressed to release individuals that carry a weapon, they should be pressed to charge them," Gomez said in a message to Fox News Digital.  "Who cares if Rikers fills up? Isn’t that what jail is for? To house the criminals." — Miraida Gomez, Mother of baby shot in NYC gun battle The New York Pol...

  State representatives are pushing for a bill to make charitable bail illegal in Kentucky, but some organizations are pushing against it. House Bill 313 was introduced by Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, and Rep. Jason Nemes, R-Louisville, on Tuesday. It would amend KRS 431.510 to make operating a charitable bail organization unlawful. In a statement to WDRB News, Nemes wrote: “The intent of the bill is to ensure that people charged with violent offenses are not bailed out by a company that does not do a proper background check and has no relation to the defendant. When a human posts bail, they are effectively vouching for that person because they are posting their own money as bail, and they are subject to losing their own money if the defendant does not show up to court or reoffends. That is not true for a company. So, this bill aims to ensure that people charged with violent crimes are not released by a company that posts their bail.” In response to the bill, Gov. Andy Beshea...

  "Your Honors, if we listen to you all, we can all go home because you’re saying there's not anything that can be done and I'm going to beg to differ with you because I feel the urgency of the matter," said State Senator John Whitmire while addressing misdemeanor court judges during an informational town hall meeting on crime. Whitmire, who is running for mayor, and Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, didn't hold back when discussing how misdemeanor court judges play a part in our ever-growing crime problem. "I think the criminal population is emboldened by the repeated release and the publicity about it," Ogg said. "I think the length of time waiting for trial contributes to that." Being out on bond was never intended to last for years. But that's what's happening now because of the huge backlog of cases in criminal courts. "They know if they do not plead out, but hold up in a year from now, they believe, the defendants and ...

  Even though Criminal District Court judges can deny bonds to capital murder defendants, we have found more than 110 capital murder suspects free from jail on bond. At least four of them are accused of killing someone else while out on bond. There are good reasons why Texas gives judges the right to deny bond to capital murder suspects. "To receive a capital murder charge, it has to be multiple people, it has to be a murder in the commission of a felony offense, or you have to kill a law enforcement officer," said Doug Griffith president of the Houston Police Officers Union. "Either one of those three things you have proven that you are not going to be productive in this society." Keep in mind capital murder suspects are facing a possible death sentence or life in prison. "You've got to understand nine times out of 10, they're not coming back to court," Griffith said. On October 19, 2017, police say 20-year-old Jonathan Vera and two other men kill...

  Michael Rapaport / Instagram New York actor and comedian Michael Rapaport posted another online video Sunday from his local Rite Aid on the Upper East Side — this time saying the store is closing down because of incessant shoplifting. The post was an update to a video Rapaport put on Instagram last week flipping out about a purported shoplifter brazenly walking out of the Manhattan Rite Aid with bags full of stolen goods. “Back in my Rite Aid and there’s nothing to steal because this Rite Aid, like so many other Rite Aids, is closing down because everyone stole everything,” the “I Am Rapaport” podcaster says in the short clip Sunday, showing aisles of shelves that are completely empty. The store, located at 80th Street and First Avenue, is closing Feb. 15, the actor said. Rite Aid confirmed the closure to The Post. “And the workers here don’t know if they’re getting jobs. Congratulations, losers,” Rapaport added in the video. In his Instagram post last week, Rapaport said, “I can...

By Sean Kennedy The spike in violent crime since the anti-police protests last year has imposed hundreds of billions of dollars in costs While COVID-19 imposed a terrible toll in death and economic destruction in 2020, another epidemic devastates American communities both financially and personally—violence. Preliminary statistics show murders rose by 35 percent across 60 of the nation’s largest cities. Nationwide FBI data through September show a 21 percent jump in homicide and 8.3 percent increase in aggravated assaults, including those by gun. Aggravated assaults and shootings climbed by roughly 10 percent over the summer and fall of 2020. Such violence exacts a heavy toll or “murder tax” on the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable communities While the spring lockdowns saw a slight lull in violence, the carnage picked up in the aftermath of late May and early June unrest and subsequent police pullback. The epicenters of anti-police protests and riots experienced a dramatic ...

During the course of the madness that promoted “defunding” or abolishing the police, there was an emphasis placed on replacing police in some circumstances with “community safety” workers who would supposedly act as unarmed “violence interrupters” and reduce the number of lethal use of force incidents by police officers.  In Baltimore, Maryland’s violent gang territories, an existing organization known as the “Safe Streets Program” gained a lot of attention and municipal support in this effort. The goal of the program is to deploy former gang members (or “former”) into areas controlled by the gangs to negotiate nonviolent resolutions to conflicts.  Unfortunately, as we’ve seen with other proposed “violence interruption” programs in major cities, sending someone with a clipboard out to resolve a beef between gang members isn’t always effective. That was sadly this case this week when one of Baltimore’s Safe Streets workers was shot to death along with several other people on th...

  Darrell Brooks Jr. was allegedly upset the mother of his child didn't pay his bail before driving his SUV into the Waukesha Christmas parade in late November last year, killing six people and injuring dozens more. Brooks allegedly beat the mother of his child minutes before driving into the parade, a criminal complaint says, The Associated Press reported. The reason was because she denied to pay Brooks' bail after he was arrested for allegedly running her over with the same vehicle he used during the Christmas parade incident, according to the complaint. To see more CLICK HERE .

  Union Pacific cargo train with packaging left on tracks after thieves steal items. Credit: John Schreiber of CBS LA/Twitter screenshot We’ve seen a lot of problems with the supply chain leading to delays of packages and bare shelves. Joe Biden has claimed success, despite the bare shelves and despite the same number of ships backed up in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach that were stuck there when he announced that he would be formally addressing the issue last year. But ships and trucks having issues aren’t the only problem. Photojournalist John Schreiber for CBS’ LA affiliate posted an eye-opening thread about train burglaries in Los Angeles. The thread has gone viral, with the initial video gaining over 5.6 million views. The stunning visuals are something else, showing empty Amazon bags and boxes, and UPS parcels strewn all over the tracks. If you’re missing a package, this might be the reason why. Keep hearing of train burglaries in LA on the scanner so went to #Lincol...

  MINNEAPOLIS — At just 18 years old, Shevirio Childs-Young already has a lengthy history of violent crime, weapons violations and skipping court hearings. He was last charged in late November, with having a loaded pistol with an extended magazine in his car after previously being ordered by a judge not to have firearms. Then last week, Judge Regina Chu decided to let Childs-Young out of jail to go to a funeral. He was supposed to be back three hours later, but he never returned to jail. "There's no reason. There's compassion from the public, but we're talking about repeat, serious offenders. And this is what law enforcement has been saying. There has to be accountability across the entire system," said former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek. Stanek says police, prosecutors, probation officers and judges all need to be in sync to reduce violent crime. And right now, that just isn't happening. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office says they weren't ...

  The son of a Houston grandmother who was fatally stabbed in 2020 by a suspect with an extensive criminal record and who was out on bond at the time is pressing to hold judges and the criminal justice system accountable for her death and that of others killed by criminal defendants released back onto the streets. Rosalie Cook, 80, was walking to her car in a Walgreens parking lot just before 10 a.m. on May 16, 2020 after having purchased birthday cards when Randy Lewis pushed her to the ground and stabbed her to death. Lewis, 38, was shot and killed by police at the scene after having charged at an officer with a knife, police said.  At the time of the killing, Lewis, who had been arrested at least 67 times, was out on two felony personal recognizance (PR) bonds, which don't require cash to get of jail but impose restrictions such as GPS monitoring or drug testing.  "If I could sue a judge, I would do it," Cook's son, Chuck Cook, told Fox News. "There is no acco...

This is big.  The Fifth Circuit has issued an en banc opinion in the Dallas Federal litigation called Daves v. Dallas County.  The opinion was issued yesterday.  This is a huge opinion that addresses three issues.  Listen to our podcast to learn more.   Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                        CLICK HERE Google Podcasts-        CLICK HERE Podcast Index-            CLICK HERE Amazon Music-          CLICK HERE Stitcher-                      CLICK HERE iHeart-                        CLICK HERE TuneIn + Alexa          CLICK HERE Po...