Abbott proposes bail reform after slaying of DPS trooper

Governor wants improved vetting, communication

AUSTIN — Citing official lapses in the 2017 killing of a state trooper in East Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday proposed stricter requirements for releasing violent-crime

defendants from jail to target people charged with assaulting police officers, and those accused of sex crimes.

Appearing at a Waco event with the widow of slain Trooper Damon Allen, who was gunned down during a Thanksgiving Day traffic stop on Interstate 45 near Fairfield, about 150 miles north of Houston, Abbott proposed modifying current

laws “to emphasize the community, require a magistrate to consider the criminal history of a defendant and allow a magistrate to consider other relevant information, including impact on law enforcement” before setting bail for those defendants.

If the plan is approved, Abbott said “Texas will take meaningful steps to reform our bail system so

that we can better protect innocent life, keep violent criminals off our streets and prevent tragedies like the death of Damon Allen.”

“It’s time for action,” he said, flanked by Allen family members and top officials with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Targeting only serious-crime cases, Abbott’s changes would not affect bail-reform initiatives underway in several Texas cities, including Houston, to ensure that poor defendants charged with minor crimes are not kept in jail just because they cannot afford to post a cash bail.

Under current Texas law, bail may be set by any magistrate — from a county justice of the peace to judges in state district court.

Abbott endorsed allowing only district judges and their associate judges, not lower-court magistrates, to set bail in felony criminal cases and misdemeanors involving assault or sex offenses — and require that any courts reviewing bail “consider technical issues of mental health and family violence.” Abbott said the Allen case, which has drawn sharp criticism from law enforcement officials across the state, highlights why change is needed.

Dabrett Black, 32, is accused of fatally shooting Allen after he posted $15,500 bail for a felony charge of aggravated assault of a peace officer. Black had rammed a deputy’s vehicle in July 2017, according to court records. A justice of the peace set that bail, officials said.

There was a warrant for Black’s arrest in late November when Allen pulled him over.

Law enforcement officials and Abbott, a former Houston judge who served on the Texas Supreme Court and as attorney general, have said Black should not have been released from jail. Officials involved with the case have acknowledged that information lapses also allowed Black to post bail in an earlier case, from 2015, in which he was also accused of assaulting an officer.

In many counties, justices of the peace — some of whom are not attorneys — set bail for violent-crime suspects without having full information about the defendant, mental health issues or even pending criminal charges.

Abbott is calling for the creation of a new uniform case management system to allow judges and magistrates to have “a full picture of a defendant’s criminal history and mental health involvements, and alert them to protective orders.” He said that system could “close critical information gaps, especially in counties of less than 20,000 population.” Abbott’s plan released Tuesday did not include what such a system would cost.

Missing from Abbott’s plan is a no-bail rule for socalled “heinous crimes,” a controversial provision that would require a change in the state constitution and was dropped in the 2017 Legislative Session amid opposition from judges, bailsmen and defense attorneys.

Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, who unsuccessfully tried to pass the bail-reform measure in 2017, said he supports what Abbott wants to do, but suggested that Abbott should include a call to change the state constitution to allow nobail for additional crimes.

“You can set milliondollar bail, but human traffickers and cartel members just pay it and leave,” Whitmire said. “It’s a cost of doing business. There are some defendants who should not be released at all, in the interest of public safety.”

Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht applauded Abbott’s proposal, saying that current law limits judges’ power to detain high-risk defendants. “Texas judges lack sufficient information to effectively scrutinize which defendants pose a threat to public safety and those who don’t,” he said.

Allen Place Jr., a former House members who is chief spokesman for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said bail laws generally are designed to ensure that people charged with crimes show up for their day in court. “These people still have the presumption of innocence under our system.” he said.

Even so, he and Whitmire agreed that any changes should consider costs — such as additional staffing required to have district judges set bail for all violent-felony suspects, as well as the costs associated with keeping more people in jail without bail. “We need to be aware of unintended consequences, both for the small counties where district judges may not be available to set bail, and in the large counties,” Whitmire said.

A 2017 study commissioned by the Judicial Council chaired by Hecht found that while fewer high-risk defendants were being released from jail, two-thirds of local officials said judges rely heavily on their own “gut feeling” when setting bail, and 40 percent of judges agreed. Judges in only six of Texas’ 254 counties had access to risk-assessment information before they set bail, a recent Judicial Council poll showed.