>> DA unveils new database web sites showing case backlogs caused by COVID.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales announced new windows on crime statistics are available on his office website, including data showing a significant trial backlog brought on by COVID-19.
“I’m very concerned about the backlog,” Gonzales said in a Zoom video conference with reporters. “This will mean that people who are victims of crime in 2020 may have to wait much longer for justice than they, as well as I, would like.”
As of March 16, before the pandemic caused the suspension of jury trials, the number of indicted felony cases still unresolved in Bexar County was 3,997. By Dec. 27, that number stood at 6,605, and the backlog continues to grow.
The information was part of the DA’S Office roll-out Friday of new data dashboards — including one showing the current caseload of the Criminal Trial Division, and cases filed at magistration, where individuals are processed after arrest.
During the pandemic, courts have held virtual proceedings via Zoom, and have limited in-person hearings, which has made reducing the number of pending cases especially challenging.
“While we are eager for jury trials to resume so that we can adjudicate these cases … it is often the oldest pending cases that courts prioritize,” he said. “However, I want everyone to know our office has been moving
cases through the system as best we can so that we can be prepared for courts to resume jury trials.”
The backlog is also a concern for defense attorneys, said one of them, Monica E. Guerrero.
“There are actually peo
ple in jail who are not guilty, and they need their day in court,” she said. “The defendants are frustrated because they want the opportunity to confront their accusers and have 12 citizens listen to their case.”
The office also unveiled a magistration data dashboard, which provides a summary of the volume of cases that are accepted by the office. It provides statistics on the numbers of cases received, bond information, type of charge, and the race of the people arrested.
The dashboard allows the viewer to sort the data by arresting agency, charge description, charge level, race and gender.
It shows 5,343 cases were received at the Justice Intake and Assessment Annex in December. Officials said the total number of arrests made by law enforcement will be smaller because some people are arrested on multiple charges.
“The sheer volume of arrest cases our office receives at JIAA each month represents just one portion of the total caseloads of our prosecutors, investigators and support staff,” Gonzales said.
There were 4,473 cases accepted at JIAA by the ADA and the magistrate judge in December, officials said, with driving while intoxicated the most commonl offense, at 277 cases. The offense most often rejected at magistration for the same time period was misdemeanor possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana, often because of the DA Office’s drug declination policy.
“Our policy to not accept certain low-level drug offenses, absent exceptional circumstances, was implemented primarily to allow our staff to focus our efforts on prosecuting violent crimes, as those are cases with victims awaiting justice,” Gonzales said.
The DA’S Office has been posting two other data sets online since October — the Family Violence Dashboard and the Cite and Release Dashboard. All are available on the DA’S Office website and are part of a mission to be more transparent.
Gonzales said prior to the start of his administration in January 2019, data collection, “when done,” often was conducted by hand, making it difficult to know what was happening.
“Over the last two years, we have begun to improve our ability to collect and analyze data,” he said. “Now that we have a better idea of what we have in this office, I have decided to make this information publicly available.”