The Professional Bondsmen of Texas- Blog

On August 8, 2023, the Texas Attorney General's office issued Atty Gen. Op. AC-002.  The Attorney General had been asked to interpret article 27.027 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure which was enacted as a part of SB 6.   The article applies when a defendant is charged with committing an offense that is a felony while they are currently out on bail in a pending case for another offense which is also a felony.  If the two cases are in different counties, then SB6 requires notification to be sent to the other court.  If the two offenses are in the same county, then only the judge over the first court can magistrate the defendant on the new charge. The statute contains an exception which allows the court to designate another court to perform the magistration. The question that the Attorney General's office was asked to address was if the court designated to perform the magistration on behalf of the district court is not also a district court judge would the m...

In Texas, the new rules for magistration went into effect on April 1, 2022 that required the review of a Public Safety Report setting out the defendant's criminal history before bail is set.  On Episode Number 40 of The Bail Post we discuss the lessons that have been learned after magistrating under the new rules for the last year.  Our guest is The Honorable Tamara Tinney who is a magistrate judge from Burnett County.  We discuss issues regarding certification of magistrations, bond modifications and other issues using the OCA System.  Other issues discussed involve the illusive solution regarding mental health patients in the criminal justice system and the impact on drug abuse. Video version of Podcast- To view on Youtube-  CLICK HERE . Audio only- Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                        CLICK HERE...

  SB 6 was a major bail reform bill passed in the last Texas Legislative Session.  As a part of the reforms, SB 6 enacted 17.027 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure which applies when a defendant is out on bond for a felony charge and is arrested again on a new felony charge in the same county.  Article 17.027 states that the defendant must be magistrated by the judge over his pending case.  The statute also says that the provision is not to be interpreted to change the timing requirements set out in article 15.17 (which requires magistration within 48 hours of arrest).  On today's episode, Guest Thomas R. Cox, III discusses how this provision is being implemented in Dallas County.  We also discuss other criminal justice reform issues on this episode of The Bail Post. Also available on: Apple Podcasts-            CLICK HERE Spotify-                  ...

On October 12, 2022, the Texas House Interim Study Committee on Criminal Justice Reform conducted a hearing on the implementation of SB6.  The hearing was for invited testimony only.   Bronson Tucker who is the Curriculum Director for the Justice Training Center identified two issues that might need to be tweaked in SB6.  First, dealt with the issue of warrants regarding when is a bond amount placed on a warrant mandatory vs discretionary.  Second, he identified an issue regarding article 27.02 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure which applies to the situation where a defendant has a current felony case pending and then is arrested on a new felony case and is supposed to go back to the original judge to be magistrated when the two cases are pending in the same county. Testimony of Ken W. Good on behalf of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas.  Our Resources: Find the failure to appear rate for any misdemeanor court in Harris County for any date over the l...