Houston judge under fire for treatment of pretrial suspects
Houston City Councilman Michael Kubosh — in his role as a bail bondsman — on Thursday accused a felony court judge of judicial oppression and demanded that he recuse himself in an armed robbery case.
The issue, Kubosh said, is that state District Judge Michael McSpadden is refusing to appoint lawyers to indigent defendants who are free on bail.
McSpadden fired back that the bail bondsman is ginning up activists and protests because of his own wallet, saying Kubosh has underwritten a bond with no collateral from his client, 22-year-old Antwain Townes.
“The only reason that Kubosh is involved is because he’s out $80,000 if Mr. Townes fails to show up,” McSpadden said. “The crux of the matter is not that he’s being oppressed. The main crux is the money.”
McSpadden said he felt the need to correct the record after activists protested and called him out by name on Thursday outside the courthouse.
Kubosh confirmed that he bonded Townes out after he was arrested for armed robbery. Kubosh said he did it as a favor to Townes’ pastor for a fee of $800, just 1 percent instead of the customary 10 percent and no collateral.
But he said the bigger issue is that Harris County judges, like McSpadden, presume that if someone makes bail, they have $5,000 or $10,000 to pay an attorney.
“The court should appoint a lawyer or give him a public defender,” Kubosh said. “This shouldn’t be this hard. They do this to oppress the person to take a plea or give up and just make a deal. This is all about judicial oppression.”
‘Playing the system’
McSpadden, Houston’s longest serving felony court judge, said he requires most defendants free on bail to hire a lawyer, and if they do not, they are ordered to come to court on a daily basis until they do.
The ability to make bail is generally seen by many of Harris County’s 22 felony court judges as proof of ability to hire a lawyer. They are generally loath to appoint an attorney to someone free on bail, even if they claim repeatedly that they are indigent.
For McSpadden, the math is simple: Defendants who make bail can get a job and hire an attorney.
“The taxpayers pay for all of our court-appointed attorneys,” McSpadden said. “Is there anybody who thinks Mr. Townes should get an attorney who is paid for by the taxpayers after the facts of this case come out? I don’t think so.”
McSpadden said those facts include Townes’ arrest in 2011 on a charge of armed robbery, a case in which he pleaded guilty to theft in exchange for probation. He was free on that probation when he was arrested in September for armed robbery, accused of using a pistol to rob a cellphone store.
McSpadden said he expects suspects to hire their own lawyer but has a roster of court-appointed attorneys he appoints when he makes exceptions.
“If they say they are disabled or have mental problems or whatever,” McSpadden said, “and it sounds like a viable reason for not being able to get a job and hire their own attorney, I’ll appoint one in a second.”
Critics said McSpadden’s tactics are coercive, because forcing a defendant to court every day means they are always in danger of having their bail revoked if they are late or miss their court appearance.
“The court has a duty to appoint attorneys for people based upon whether an individual can afford to hire an attorney in their particular circumstances,” said Susanne Pringle, Legal Director at Texas Fair Defense Project.
McSpadden painted a picture of defendants “playing the system” by slowing the docket and keeping their own cases from moving forward by not hiring a lawyer or even asking that one be appointed.
“They just screw you by not doing anything to hire an attorney or ask for a court-appointed attorney,” he said. “You can’t let these cases go on forever.”
Fourth strike, you’re out
McSpadden confirmed that after the fourth court appearance without a lawyer, he requires most defendants to come to court every day until they do.
“After the fourth time,” he said, “if they haven’t hired an attorney at that time, I tell them they need to come back to court every day until they hire an attorney. It works with most.”
That presumption apparently led the judge to reset Townes, and at least two others who contacted the Houston Chronicle, to appear in court on a daily basis. Townes appeared 10 days in a row until he was featured on a news report earlier this month.
On Thursday, Townes said he does want an attorney appointed by McSpadden.
“At this point, I’m kind of scared to get a court-appointed lawyer, because they work in that court,” Townes said. “I’m just trying to work my way up and pay for a lawyer.”
That would be easier, he said, if he did not have to appear in court every day.
At least two other suspects have similar tales, saying they have been rescheduled daily in McSpadden’s court because they do not have lawyers.
Because of Townes’ experience in front of McSpadden, and other suspects coming forward, activists and critics amassed in front of the Harris County Criminal Justice Center on Thursday to protest the judge’s handling of the cases.
After the protest, Kubosh said the judge told Townes that he saw that news report and would not hold it against him. That, Kubosh said, was code for holding a serious grudge.
“I want him to recuse himself,” Kubosh said. “Now that’s he addressed this young man’s First Amendment rights, I think he needs to recuse himself. I don’t think he could possibly be fair.”