Federal Judge Prohibits Money Bail for Indigent Defendants Charged Only with Misdemeanors

The decision, handed down April 28, 2017, comes out of Harris County, home to Houston, Texas. If you decide to read the opinion, ODonnell v. Harris County, be prepared to spend some time with it. The opinion is 193 pages long, and one reading may not be enough. Readers will see similarities and differences between the bail practices in Harris County and North Carolina. This post doesn’t undertake to compare the two and instead does a not-so-brief review of the findings, conclusions, and relief ordered by the judge, Chief District Court Judge Lee H. Rosenthal (if you’re wondering, appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992). The bottom line is that the decision enjoins Harris County from “detaining indigent misdemeanor defendants who are otherwise eligible for release but are unable because of their poverty to pay a secured money bail.” Slip op. at 181. Evidence and Findings The case involves a civil suit by three people detained before trial on misdemeanor charges. During an eight-day hearing on the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, Judge Rosenthal heard testimony from, among others, hearing officers who initially set bail, judges who review bail determinations, the Sheriff of Harris County, the director of the county’s pretrial services program, and expert witnesses for both the plaintiffs and defendants on prearrest data and procedures. The judge also received 300 written exhibits, depositions and declarations from additional witnesses, and 2,300 video recordings of bail-setting hearings by hearing officers in Harris County during the past year. Id. at [...]