DA gives himself high marks for reforms in his first 2 years
Gonzales notes transparency vow
Bexar County District Attorney Joe D. Gonzales released a 32-page “midterm report” Tuesday on his first two years in office, giving himself high marks for reorganizing his 500-plus staff to pursue criminal justice reforms, creating new divisions and programs and revamping old ones.
He also touted his commitment to transparency, posting the report on his office’s web page and pointing to the availability of prosecution statistics updated regularly on online dashboards to show the community the work underway.
Despite COVID-19 putting many court proceedings on hold for more than a year, Gonzales said he has accomplished much of what he promised while campaigning in 2018.
“The reason we have implemented these reforms is to focus on what we should be concerned with, and that’s violent crime,” Gonzales said Monday after making a preview of the report available. “The large majority of what I set out to do we have at least started, if not completed.”
As grand juries have continued to hand down hundreds of indictments since last year, Gonzales said, he has tried to get as much information out as he could. He said elected officials in Bexar County will get copies of his report, and as soon as the pandemic numbers improve, he will consider talking about it in community forums.
“I realized members of the community are not clear about what the DA’S Office does,” he said Monday. “In the interest of transparency, it’s important for me to report to the citizens of Bexar County.”
The pandemic has forced the the suspension of jury service, which put many trials on hold. Some cases were able to be resolved through plea agreements or bench trials, but the backlog of criminal cases continues to grow.
As courts resume their normal work, the oldest cases will need to be tried first, he said.
Gonzales says he is “equally proud of ” expanding the office’s cite and release program for low-level, non-violent misdemeanors and creating a civil rights division to review law enforcement use-of-force incidents.
“Both of them are very important to this community,” he said.
In July 2019, the DA’S Office, working with San Antonio police and the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, revamped an existing cite and release policy to avoid arresting people charged with misdemeanor theft, driving with an invalid license or possessing small amounts of marijuana, among other offenses.
People cited under the program who successfully complete associated programs can avoid a criminal record. It also frees up law enforcement and prosecutors to concentrate on more serious and violent offenses, Gonzales said.
“Cite and release is an important component to the reform we brought here,” Gonzales said. “Over 3,500 people have avoided being arrested in a year and a half.”
The program’s success would have been impossible without the partnership with law enforcement, he said, which allows officers to make arguments on a case-by-case basis if they believe a suspect should be arrested, even with a small amount of drugs.
“The only way that this works is to give the arresting officer the discretion,” Gonzales said.
The year before he took office, there were 4,500 case filings for possession of marijuana under two ounces, the report shows. That number decreased to 1,700 in 2019. For 2020 and under a policy not to prosecute over an amount less than an ounce, only 16 cases were filed.
“That is a drastic reduction,” Gonzales said. “A large part has been because they are participating in a diversion program.”
He noted other statistics. From July 2019 to Dec. 31, 2020, the office received 3,530 citations from law enforcement involving marijuana or drugs. It declined 2,261 of them, sent 643 into the court system, accepted 659 into the Cite and Release Diversion program and signed 404 program agreements.
The DA’S Office said 308 were successfully completed; 55 were not.
The implementation of dashboards on the district attorney’s web page has allowed law enforcement officers to upload their reports and lets the community see statistics on arrests and court cases.
Michael Young, the county’s chief public defender, said the reforms under Gonzales, especially regarding pretrial diversion, have had a positive effect on his clients.
“The DA’S Office’s expanded use of pretrial diversion has been used by all classes of attorneys,” he said.
“Cite and release has grown to the point that it is having a real impact on the jail population, pending court cases, and has had a bottom-line impact on the Bexar County budget.”
Another source of pride for the office, Gonzales said, is the creation of the Civil Rights Division in October and the naming of longtime prosecutor Daryl Harris as its director earlier this year.
The division reviews use-of-force cases that result in deaths or injuries and pledges greater scrutiny and more transparency. Gonzales said he was moved to form the unit following the killing of George Floyd by officers in Minneapolis in May last year.
The report highlighted Gonzales’ bail reform efforts, starting in 2019, when he unveiled a policy requiring prosecutors to recommend release without cash bail for all defendants charged with misdemeanor and state jail felonies, unless they’re a flight risk or a danger to the community or their victim.
That change followed deaths in the Bexar County jail of two homeless people who had mental health issues and could not afford to post bail.
Gonzales said one goal he has not implemented because of the pandemic is the formation of a community panel whose priorities he could listen to. He said he hopes in the next few months the COVID-19 numbers will allow a group to meet.