Appeals court orders halt of new bail system
Justices want more time to review civil rights case involving the poor
A federal appeals court granted Harris County a last-minute reprieve late Friday in a contentious civil rights lawsuit, calling a temporary halt to a judge’s order that would have altered the way cash bail is handled every week for hundreds of poor people jailed on misdemeanor charges.
In an order posted after the courthouse closed Friday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the request of the county’s teams of lawyers to stop the order — set to take effect Monday — until the appeals court can further review the matter.
A three-judge panel noted the temporary halt to the order was issued “in light of the lack of time before the district court’s injunction will take effect and in order to allow full consideration of the following motions and any responses thereto.”
First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard said the ruling will give the court time to fully consider the issues.
“The county attorney is pleased that the 5th Circuit has granted the stay to give us more time to work toward a settlement that is in the interest of all the people of Harris County,” he said late Friday. “They said, ‘Let’s just stop a minute.’”
Criminal Court at Law Judge Darrell Jordan — who was the only judge who did not want to appeal the decision — was disappointed with the appeals court decision.
“I don’t know why we’re still fighting this,” he said. “Millions of dollars of Harris County money is going to be wasted.”
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez had already been preparing paperwork for the expected release of about 80 indigent inmates awaiting trial on misdemeanors.
The county had argued in two separate motions filed by different teams of lawyers that the order by Chief U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal in Houston would have upended the county’s bail system and put the public at risk if the misdemeanor defendants were released.
“The injunction jeopardizes public safety — the harm is real and imminent,” one group of lawyers
argued.
Another request filed by a second team on behalf of the county’s Criminal Court at Law Judges was even more blunt about the perceived impact of the Rosenthal’s order.
“The district court’s startling constitutional ruling prohibits the enforcement of state law, mandates the release of untold numbers of potentially dangerous arrestees, presents a grave risk to public safety, and radically upsets the status quo,” according to the second motion filed Friday afternoon.
Attorneys representing the inmates dubbed the arguments “the same smoke and mirrors.”
“In a last-ditch effort to avoid complying with the Constitution and federal and state law, Appellants resort to fear-mongering and hyperbolic rhetoric about the supposed ‘danger’ of Judge Rosenthal’s order,” they argued.
Women out on bail
The appeals court decision comes amid growing opposition to the county’s bail system and legal fees that had approached $3 million earlier this week.
Gonzalez, who took office Jan. 1, is among those who believes the bail system should be overhauled. He said about 100 inmates a day would have been affected by the new bail system.
“We are prepared to comply, allowing many inmates to return to their homes while their cases get resolved in court,” he said Friday, before the ruling. “We need to make sure we keep peace in our community, but the system should be compassionate.”
Gonzalez was joined by District Attorney Kim Ogg and Commissioner Rodney Ellis in supporting the changes.
Community activists took matters into their own hands this week by working with the sheriff’s office to identify and bail out mothers who were being held on low-level charges.
The Texas Organizing Project bailed out two women this week and was hoping to get a third out Friday, in time for Mother’s Day on Sunday.
Rosenthal, chief judge in the Houston district, issued a temporary injunction last month to halt the county’s current bail system, which she said violates the U.S. Constitution by treating low-income misdemeanor defendants differently than those who can pay to get out of jail.
In a sharply worded 193page opinion on April 28, Rosenthal ordered the county to release qualified misdemeanor defendants on personal bonds if they are too poor to pay cash bail. Inmates who are facing additional, serious charges, or who have warrants or other legal restraints, are not included in the order.
She gave the county two weeks to prepare for releasing inmates on personal bond, with the order set to go into effect at just after midnight Sunday.
Judge rejected request
Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to appeal the decision, setting off a flurry of last-minute legal action throughout the week. After Rosenthal rejected a request to set aside her order to give the county more time, the county appealed to the 5th Circuit court.
The lawsuit was filed last year by two civil rights groups — Texas Fair Defense Project and Civil Rights Corps — and local law firm Susman Godfrey on behalf of Maranda ODonnell, a single mother who was held for two days on a charge of driving without a valid license because she couldn’t afford the $2,500 bail.
Ellis said it’s time for the county to stop the expensive fight.
“The county should stop wasting time and tax dollars defending the indefensible and start investing in our broken justice system,” he said in a written statement before the appeals court ruling.