The Bail Post: Recent Episodes
PBT Team
With various attempts at criminal justice reform from New York to Texas to California, many people are confused as to what is working and what is not. The recent rise in violent crime across the country has been startling and law makers and the public alike are desperate to find legislation that is effective. The Bail Post is an on-going discussion that seeks to cut to the core of what successful criminal justice reform looks like and what measures have been disastrous. Join us and educate yourself about the best practices that jurisdictions must implement to keep their communities safe, while ensuring fairness to defendants.
On this episode of The Bail Post we meet the new President of PBUS David Stockman as we discuss multiple issues. One of the issues that we highlight is the recent data breach of Capitar's cloud based bail software and the responses by bail agents. We also discuss bail in the state of Kansas and we find out that there are both property bondsmen and corporate bondsmen. We also discuss the laws in Kansas for returning the defendant to custody. We also discuss the Professional Bondsmen of the United States, how it functions and it upcoming meeting.
Our guest on this episode of The Bail Post is the sitting district attorney for Harris County- Kim Ogg. D.A. Ogg was first elected to become district attorney in 2016 with the support of a Soros political group. She was re-elected in 2020 without the support of a Soros political group.
D.A. Ogg was present for all the inside political discussions for criminal justice reform/bail reform in Harris County. D.A. Ogg initially supported the reforms, but once she concluded that the proposed reforms went too far, she opposed them.
On this episode of The Bail Post D.A. Ogg tells all. Join us and see if you come to the same conclusion that we did- Wow!
This is the second of two episodes regarding Charitable Bail Funds. The first part was episode number 5 of The Bail Post. On this episode on The Bail Post we highlight what states have done since Texas enacted a bill requiring transparency for Charitable Bail Funds. The state of Indiana limited these funds so that they could not post a bond over a certain size. Also, recently, the state of Georgia passed a bill limiting these funds from posting no more than 3 bonds in a given period of time whether that be six months or a year. Why are states placing restrictions on these funds? Probably because the legislatures are listening to the states from the representatives of some of these funds which state that they want to create chaos in the Criminal Justice System. Therefore, legislatures are taking them at their word and placing restrictions on them to prevent chaos.
Retired Chief Patrick Jordan worked for the L.A. County Sheriff's office for over 30 years. He has intimate knowledge regarding the California Criminal Justice System the reforms that have been pushed for years. He talks about the litigation that began attacking the State's failure to provide proper mental health care and medical care which lead to a three judge panel placing a cap on the State's prison population. The cases went all the way to the United States Supreme Court where Justice Alito questioned any order that would require the State to release the equivalent of three divisions of convicted criminals. Alito predicted the action would lead to more crime. Chief Jordan highlights the changes that have been made since and how those actions were not intended to do anything but reduce the number of people in jail even if crime increased. Chief Jordan also provides insights into district attorneys who were supported by George Soros' groups. Join us on this Episode of The Bail Post. The arguments made in California yesterday, may be the arguments made in your jurisdiction tomorrow.
Jim Quinn is a former Executive district attorney in Queens, New York. His family have lived there for four generations. Jim was in the front lines as New York slipped bail reform into the budget bill in 2019 and when it went into effect in January 2020. Jim has written numerous articles about the New York bail reform and its impact on crime. On this episode of The Bail Post we evaluate the reforms and their impact on recidivism. The biggest take away from this episode is that the politicians stated that they were willing to have more crime to address their political agenda. Four years later, we can say that they got exactly that. Crime is up 40% since before the reforms were enacted and defendants with a prior arrest are committing new crimes at record numbers.
On this episode of The Bail Post we talk about the current theories regarding the causes of crime and how to deter it. Our guest is Dr. Jennifer Wooldridge. She is an associate professor of Criminal Justice and the Criminal Justice Undergraduate Coordinator at UT Tyler.
Domestic Violence Survivors are one of the unknown stories of Bail Reform Failures. As catch and release policies or arrest and release policies are being used more in our urban areas, one of the areas of society that is being most hit is in the area of domestic violence. In many places, survivors cannot rely upon the criminal justice system any longer to protect them; and instead, they have to plan their escape plan with the help of volunteers across the country. Join us on this episode of the Bail Post with Guest Angeline Constantinou as we talk about this very important issue.
The United States Supreme Court denied the petition for cert. filed by the plaintiffs in Daves v. Dallas County in January. In February, the United States Supreme Court filed another petition for cert. filed in Little v. Doguet from Louisiana on a similar issue. Therefore, the Daves v. Dallas County case has finally been concluded. On this episode of The Bail Post we discuss the legacy of this case and the other important case called ODonnell v. Harris County.
J.E. "Eddie" Guerra is the Sheriff of Hidalgo servicing around 1 million people. Sheriff Guerra was appointed to office after his predecessor resigned as a result of scandal. Sheriff Guerra rebuilt trust with the public and was reelected multiple times by the voters. Sheriff Guerra talks about the steps he took to rebuild trust with the public.
Hidalgo County is a border county with Mexico. As a result, Sheriff Guerra deals with all the things that a sheriff has to deal with and then on top of that he deals with border issues as well.
Sheriff Guerra has won many awards. He is known for sharing data with many different agencies and says that he does not care who gets credit for getting the arrest. By all metrics, crime in Hidalgo County has gone down in Hidalgo County.
Join us for this episode of The Bail Post as we talk to Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra.
On this episode of The Bail Post, we reach several milestones. First, this is episode number 50. Second this is the start of Season 3 of the Bail Post.
On Season 1, the first episode focused on what bondsmen do. On Season 2, the first episode highlighted why the private industry was so much more successful than any other release mechanism.
For Season 3, the first episode focuses on what it is that PBT does for the bondsmen of Texas. Our guest is the new president of PBT, Irma Montemayor. She talks about what it takes to run one of the best and most effective bail associations in the United States. She also highlights the work that PBT engages in at the Texas Legislature.
There is also a discussion regarding how PBT raises funds to be able to be active at the legislature. Ms. Montemayor highlights the importance of PBT's continuing education class.
Also, there was a discussion regarding the partnerships that PBT enters into with surety companies to provide additional funds to defend the bail industry to get their story out. The current partners include: AIA, American Surety, Bankers, Financial Casualty & Surety, and Lexington National. Ms. Montemayor challenged agents of sureties not on this list to contact their insurance company to find out why they were not partnering with PBT to defend their businesses.
Join us on The Bail Post as we start Season 3.
Lucy Adame-Clark was born in San Antonio, Texas. She attended Sidney Lanier High School and attended Southern Careers Institute in San Antonio for paralegal studies. Prior to becoming county clerk, Adame-Clark worked in the Bexar County Sheriff's office from 1997 to 2018. There she worked as a booking ID clerk from 1997 to 2008, a latent print examiner/AFIS in the criminal investigation division from 2008 to 2012, and a criminal processing clerk from 2013 until her election in 2018.
According to Bexar County records, Adame-Clark was the first Latina and the first woman elected to the county clerk position. She is a member of the International Association for Identification and the Bexar County Bail Bond Board. She also serves as the Bexar County Treasurer and Chairman of the Records Management Committee. Outside of her professional career, Adame-Clark previously volunteered as the booster club president for the Southside Independent School District AFJROTC program and Democratic Precinct Chair for her area.
Our guest also agreed to provide a link for searching their system for certain warrants. The link is as follows:
https://fugitivesearch.bexar.org/
Join us on this episode of The Bail Post as we have a conversation with the Bexar County Clerk Lucy Adame-Clark.
On this episode of The Bail Post we discuss Russell v. Harris County. This case was filed to extend the ruling in ODonnell regarding misdemeanor judges issued by the Honorable Lee Rosenthal to the felony judges.
When the case was originally filed, the plaintiffs did not even sue the district court judges. Suit was filed against Harris County and the Harris County Sheriff. Next, the case was "stayed" or put on hold to allow the parties to attempt to work out a settlement.
The case did not proceed as expected by the plaintiffs. They were expecting a quick settlement where the county gave them everything they wanted like they did in ODonnell.
What the plaintiffs received in the end was a big fat dismissal. Find out how this happened on this episode of The Bail Post.
Following the death of George Floyd, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus proposed an extensive legislative package that included criminal justice reforms alongside reforms in education, health care and human services, and economic policy. The bill was referred to as The Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, commonly known as the SAFE-T Act.
The bill made a number of reforms to the criminal justice system, affecting policing, pretrial detention and bail, sentencing, and corrections. The Act's section on pretrial detention, which took effect in full on September 18, 2023, is also known as the Pretrial Fairness Act.
On this episode on The Bail Post we discuss Illinois and the Safe-T Act.
David Zimmer is a Policy Fellow at Center of the American Experiment, where he writes about criminal justice and public safety.
Mr. Zimmer served 33 years in local law enforcement with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, retiring as a Captain. During his law enforcement career, Mr. Zimmer served as a deputy and a supervisor in areas including the Jail, Courts, Patrol/Water Patrol, Investigations, and Tactical Command. Mr. Zimmer was recognized as a collaborative law enforcement leader who earned the respect of stakeholders throughout the criminal justice system. He advocates for public policy that will ensure a consequential criminal justice system for all Minnesotans.
In 2021, Minnesota began tracking the race of individuals accused of crimes. This data allowed Mr. Zimmer to produce a report called "Dispelling the Myth of Unwarranted Racial Disparities in Minnesota's Criminal Justice System." The conclusions of the report raise questions about whether proponents for reforms that gut accountability are doing the opposite of their intent by causing more harm to the very communities that the proponents claim to be seeking to help.
To view the report CLICK HERE.
On Episode No. 45 on The Bail Post, we discuss a debate that we recently participated in against a representative of Civil Rights Corps. This is the organization that has filed bail reform and criminal justice reform litigation across the United States. This organization filed all of the cases in Texas that made their way to the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. These cases include: ODonnell v. Harris County, Daves v. Dallas County, Russell v. Harris County and Booth v. Galveston County.
We discuss our preparation for the debate and our expectations. We also talk about the heated and we mean very heated debate that took place and the toxic language that Civil Rights Corps uses. We also talk about our take away from the debate and whether there can be any common ground found when Civil Rights Corps cannot agree on such things as simple facts such as whether the reforms in ODonnell are a failure. They cannot even agree that there is disagreement about these reforms.
If you would like to watch or listen to the debate itself, it can be found HERE.
On this Episode of the Bail Post we are at the PBT Annual Meeting and we are recording "live" to tape where we have a panel discussion regarding the Inside Scoop about Bail Bond Boards. Our guests are Ethel Segura and Michelle Turner. Ethel Segura is the Bail Bond Administrator for the Bexar County Bail Bond Board. Michelle Turner is the 1st Assistant County Attorney for Fort Bend County and is the attorney for the Fort Bend County Bail Bond Board.
On this unique and different episode we discuss common mistakes that bondsmen make and several new statutes that may impact the actions of bail bond boards moving forward.
This is an audio only episode.
A County Judge can be the judge of a constitutional county court, a judge of a county court at law or the judge presiding over a county's commissioners court. On this episode of The Bail Post our guest is the The Honorable Judge Tim O'Hare. He is the Tarrant County Judge over the commissioners court. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin in 1991 with a BBA in Finance, he went on to earn his law degree from SMU School of Law in 1995.
Tim spent the last twenty-five years building a successful legal practice and real estate investment company. During this time, Judge O’Hare earned the title of “Texas Super Lawyer” nine consecutive years.
Judge O'Hare took office in January 2023 and just finished his first budget cycle for Tarrant County where the commissioners court cut the county's budget saving the taxpayers millions of dollars.
How does a first term county judge navigate local politics and get various office holders to agree to cut their budgets? Also, Judge O'Hare touches on the importance of public safety for the county's budget.
On this episode of The Bail Post, we discuss two different counties approaches to federal bail litigation. In both counties, the federal courts entered preliminary injunctions to fundamentally change local bail procedures. In Schultz v. Alabama, the county appealed, refused to settle and fought the litigation every step of the way. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the preliminary injunction and returned control of bail back to the county. In contrast, in O'Donnell v. Harris County, the county appealed and won only to have the trial court enter a new preliminary injunction. It was appealed as well and the 5th Circuit stayed the 2nd preliminary injunction stating that there was a substantial likelihood that the judges would win again. However, the case did not go forward because there was an election and new judges were elected who promised to resolve the litigation. A settlement was entered that tied the hands of the judges going forward.
On this episode, we hear the tale of two counties: one that stood up to the plaintiffs' attorneys and won and another county that gave up and is still suffering the consequences to this day.
The Guest is Matt Gentry who is the Sheriff of Cullman County, Alabama. Sheriff Gentry was born and raised in Cullman County. He attended school there. After a stint in the Marines he returned home and went to work for the sheriff's department where he worked his way up to be the elected sheriff.
Anne Marie Schubert is a career prosecutor. Schubert earned a bachelor's degree from Saint Mary’s College of California in 1986 and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco in 1989. Her career experience includes being the Sacramento County District Attorney, Supervising Deputy District Attorney of the Sacramento District Attorney's Office, and Deputy District Attorney of Contra Costa and Solano Counties. Schubert has been a board member of the National District Attorneys Association and has been affiliated with Fight Crime: Invest in Kids and Stand Up for Victims.
On this episode of The Bail Post we discuss whether we have reached a breaking point with rising crime and criminal justice reform.
In Texas, the new rules for magistration went into effect on April 1, 2022 that required the review of a Public Safety Report setting out the defendant's criminal history before bail is set. On Episode Number 40 of The Bail Post we discuss the lessons that have been learned after magistrating under the new rules for the last year. Our guest is The Honorable Tamara Tinney who is a magistrate judge from Burnett County. We discuss issues regarding certification of magistrations, bond modifications and other issues using the OCA System. Other issues discussed involve the illusive solution regarding mental health patients in the criminal justice system and the impact on drug abuse.
On this Episode of The Bail Post we get a report of the Texas Legislative Session looking at Criminal Justice Issues including SB 1318, SJR 44, HB 227 and others. We also touch on whether bail will be part of any upcoming Special Sessions and the elephant in the room regarding the Impeachment trial planned for September. Our guest is the PBT Legislative Committee Chair- Scott Walstad.
On May 1, 2023, Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1627. The bill was described as Florida's response to disastrous “bad bail reforms” being pushed by liberal politicians and prosecutors in high-crime jurisdictions throughout the country.
In this episode of the Bail Post we discuss HB 1627 and other bail bills passed in the most recent Florida Legislative Session. Several highlights of the legislations is that the bill:
- Requires the Florida Supreme Court to develop a uniform statewide bond schedule by the end of the year; and
- Prohibits the chief judge of a judicial circuit from setting a lower bond amount for a criminal offense than the uniform statewide bond schedule.
“In Florida, we stand for the rule of law, we back our blue, and we treat offenders as they should be treated — not as victims, but as criminals who deserve to be behind bars,” said Attorney General Ashley Moody.“ That’s one of the reasons why we are the fastest growing state in the nation. I am grateful for Governor DeSantis’ strong leadership in advocating for, and signing, new laws that go after fentanyl traffickers and keep violent and repeat offenders behind bars to protect Floridians and our millions of visitors.”
Our guest is Shawn Foster who has worked with the Florida Bail Agents Association before the Florida Legislature for the last 8 years.
New York recently passed the third or fourth round of roll backs of the bail reform it passed at the start of the pandemic. On this Episode of The Bail Post we learn all about the bail reforms that New York passed and the various roll backs passed since. Our guest is Michelle Esquenazi who is the President of The National Association of Bail Agents.
On the 36th episode of the Bail Post we talk about the importance of accountability in bail and in the Criminal Justice System in general. Our guest is the Honorable Maria T. Jackson who has been the presiding Judge of the 339th State District Court in Houston, Harris County, Texas since the election of 2008 until she decided not to run for re-election.
Judge Jackson received her B.A. degree in Political Science from The University of Texas at Arlington. She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Texas A&M School of Law formerly Texas Wesleyan School of Law.
In 2014, Judge Jackson was named one of the “Top 30 Most Influential Women of Houston.” In 2015, Judge Jackson was recognized again for her judicial service to the community by the Lebanon Times magazine. She was a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Black Heritage Honoree, a Houston Bar Association-CLE distinguished member, and recognized by Houston’s Influential 40 Under 40. The Houston Sun honored Judge Jackson the “Women of Power and Purpose” award in 2013. She is a sustaining member of the Harris County Democratic Party. She is a member of the Lakewood Church. She is also a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
In the bail reform debate, periodically we hear that changes should emulate the Washington D.C. system of bail which replaced the private sector of bail and with a government pretrial services department.
The guest for this episode of The Bail Post is a life long resident of Washington D.C. He is Frederick Douglas Cooke, Jr. and he was born and raised in the District of Columbia. He attended the District of Columbia public school system and graduated from McKinley Technical High School in 1965. After high school, Mr. Cooke enrolled at Howard University and graduated in 1969 with a degree in Psychology and a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Mr. Cooke deferred some of his U.S. Air Force service and enrolled at the Howard University School of Law where he was Managing Editor of the Howard Law Journal and Chairman of the National Conference of Law Reviews for the 1971-1972 school year. He graduated with honors from the Law School in 1972.
Upon graduation, Cooke served as the Law Clerk for the Hon. George W. Draper, II an Associate Judge of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. In 1973, Cooke was appointed a Captain in the Judge Advocate General’s Department of the U.S. Air Force and served four years in that capacity.
In 1977, Cooke returned to the District and joined a large corporate law firm specializing in telecommunications, higher education, entertainment, and corporate law. He became a partner in that law firm 1982. In 1987, he was appointed by Mayor Marion Barry to serve as the Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia (now called the Attorney General for the District of Columbia) where he was the head of a law office of about 250 lawyers and an equal number of support staff.
In 1990, he left government service and returned to the private practice of law. In his practice, he works primarily on governmental relations, municipal finance, telecommunications, land use, public contracting, sports, advertising, litigation, intellectual property education, general corporate matters, and civil and criminal litigation matters.
Join our discussion as we discuss bail reform, learn about the Washington D.C. bail system and surprisingly find common ground on what works and what does not work on bail reform issues.
Over the last few years, reformers have been advocating that changes should be made to the Criminal Justice System on the grounds that bail was not needed; that defendants would go to court anyway. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these policies were used and gave us a preview of what the bail reform movement would look like if the policies were retained after the pandemic.
Jeff Reisig is the Democrat District Attorney for Yolo County in California. Mr. Reisig released two reports looking at recidivism (new crime) rates of defendants released on zero bail in Yolo County. The first report was issued in August 2022 and found that over 70% of the individuals released on zero bail committed new crimes within 18 months of release.
One of the criticisms to this report was that there was no control group of individuals released on bail. Therefore, in February 2023, an updated analysis was released adding a comparison or control group to see if there was a difference in outcomes for individuals released on bail vs. individuals released on zero bail. The results were shocking. Individuals simply released committed new crimes at a substantially higher rate and more quickly than individuals released on surety bail. Why was there such a difference? Join us for this episode of The Bail Post.
If you would like to see the August 2022 report- CLICK HERE.
If you would like to see the February 2023 analysis- CLICK HERE.
Our guest today is the current district clerk of Tarrant County, Texas, Tom Wilder. Tom took office in 1995 and was recently re-elected for another 4-year term last November. He serves on the Tarrant County Information Technology Steering Committee, Justice Executive Planning Committee, Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee, E-Gov Committee, and chairs the Tarrant County Bail Bond Board.
Mr. Wilder sits on the Board of Directors for the District Court Alliance and is a member of the County and District Clerks' Association. He also is an associate member of the Tarrant County Bar Association and sits on the TVAS (Pro Bono) Committee.
Prior to being elected District Clerk, he was the owner of the Wilder Company, a Commercial Real Estate Services firm for 25 years.
In 1987, Tom was appointed by Governor Bill Clements as a board member of the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M, the largest real estate research body in the USA. He served there for over seven years and was elected chairman 1991-1992.
Mr. Wilder has received two statewide Best Practices Awards from the Texas Association of Counties and special recognition from the Texas House of Representatives for cost efficient operation of the District Clerk's office.
He is here today to talk about local government and update what is happening in the District Clerk's office.
Mr. Wilder has been active in National, State, and local politics beginning in 1962 on the college campus of the University of Dallas.
On March 31, 2023, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down the long awaited second en banc opinion in Daves v. Dallas County. The opinon has some strident language. The court of appeals held that neither Daves v. Dallas County, nor ODonnell v. Harris County should have ever been litigated in federal court. On this weeks episode of The Bail Post we discuss the new opinion from the Fifth Circuit and address its potential impact the opinion will have.
If you would like to listen to our discussion of Daves v. Dallas County 1 you can find that podcast by CLICKING HERE.
If you would like to read the opinion CLICK HERE.
The Honorable Ron Rangel is the sitting judge for the 379th District Court in Bexar County. He has been served for 15 years. Join us on this episode of The Bail Post as we learn about Bexar County justice. Judge Rangel also discusses how COVID impacted the Bexar County Criminal Justice System. Other issues include implementation of SB6 and bail reform issues.
Patricia Wenskunas is the founder of Crime Survivors (www.crimesurvivors.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing hope and healing to victims and survivors of crime. Her organization works to ensure that victims and survivors are protected and their rights supported by working closely with law enforcement, the judicial system and the community.
Patricia nearly died in 2002 when she was viciously attacked in her own home by someone she trusted. A personal trainer, whom she knew and trusted from her local gym, arranged to stop by her condo one day, ostensibly to help her sell Patricia Wenskunasa piece of exercise equipment. Once there, he rendered her unconscious with a pill that he claimed would help her lose weight. When Patricia came-to, she found she was undressed, with the trainer on top of her. While she struggled to get away, the trainer threatened to kill her 12-year-old son, who was not home at the time. Now enraged, the attacker attempted to suffocate her with plastic kitchen wrap. With her last surge of adrenaline, Patricia broke free but found herself with nowhere to run. With her life hanging in the balance, she she made a daring 12-foot leap from her balcony to the hard kitchen floor below. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally made it to the door. Once outside, she screamed into the street for help.
This was not to be the end of Patricia’s ordeal. What ensued was her labyrinthine journey through the criminal justice system. At times it seemed that the system was far more interested in protecting the man who attacked her than it was in securing justice for her. Equally important, it didn’t seem to care about protecting society from her attacker being released to commit additional attacks on other women. Perhaps next time, she thought, he might even be “successful” at killing one or more of them. In the end, Patricia’s attacker served all of 120 days in prison for assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats. The judge threw out the charges of attempted murder.
Patricia vowed to do something about the attack and its aftermath by founding Crime Survivors. Always referring to herself as a survivor – never a victim – she became a tireless advocate on behalf of those of endured situations similar her own. She does it with an optimistic tone, believing that life after a violent attack begins in one’s state of mind. A frequent public speaker on the subject, she is dedicated to the notion that with community support, respectful advocacy and hopeful healing, one can survive a violent crime, and even thrive in their personal lives.
For more information:
Website- Crime Surviors- CLICK HERE.
Facebook- CLICK HERE.
Facebook- Be Their Voice Campaign- CLICK HERE.
Twitter- CLICK HERE.
Twitter- Be Their Voice Campaign- CLICK HERE.
Shawn Foster has worked with the Florida Bail Agents Association before the Florida Legislature for the last 8 years. On this episode of The Bail Post, instead of soaking up the Florida sun, we are soaking up "Florida Bail." Learn how the Florida's bail system and legislative process work. See if they are doing something that could be beneficial to Texas as well.
Tillmin Welch have been a bondsmen for over 30 years. He is a past president of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas. He is a former board member. He has been honored as Bondsmen of The Year and has been awarded a honorary lifetime membership. He is also the former long serving chair of the PBT Legislative Committee. Join us as we discuss how PBT has navigated past legislative sessions.
Tillmin also discusses how he has helped families to get loved ones to change from their ways to get a way from drugs and gangs. Even in retirement, Tillmin is active in prison ministries and continues to mentor to men in prison.
Randy Cauthen has a unique perspective on bail. Randy worked in law enforcement for over 27 years. After retiring, Randy was not ready to be idle. So he began a second career in the bail industry. He is the President of the North Carolina Bail Agents Association and was a 2019 inductee into the Hall of Fame for the bail agents association. Join us as we learn about how bail operates in North Carolina and we compare it to how bail operates in Texas.
Season 2 is HERE! This season begins much like the way that Season 1 began; a back to basics. We start Season 2 by asking the question of "Why is the private surety system so effective?" Throughout the United States the different release mechanisms used can be grouped into four categories: the private surety bail system, cash bonds, personal bonds and preventative detention. The private surety system has the lowest failure to appear rate by far of any the release mechanisms used. Why is it so much more effective than any other release mechanism? Join this episode of The Bail Post to learn more.
A Bail related case was argued before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on December 7, 2022. The Indiana State Legislature passed a bill that placed restrictions on a charitable bail funds' ability to post bonds for defendants charged with crime of violence or charged with a felony and have a prior conviction for a crime of violence. The bill passed the Indiana Legislature and was scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2022. The Bail Project filed suit in federal court attempting to keep the new law from going into effect. On this episode of the Bail Post, find out the arguments raised by the Bail Project against the statute. Also, listen to a summary of the oral argument before the court of appeals.
If you would like more information on this case, you can listen to the oral argument before the Seventh Circuit by CLICKING HERE.
To see the documents in the trial court or court of appeals- CLICK HERE.
Josh Tetens has been practicing law throughout Central Texas since 2006. He originally came to Waco in 1997 to attend Baylor University where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree. Following that, he went to Baylor Law School graduating in 2005.
Josh applied for jobs as a prosecutor but was not able to find a position. Therefore, he set up his own office and grew as a criminal defense attorney.
In the most recent campagin season, Josh Tetens was approached to run against the sitting District Attorney. After a brusing campaign, Josh won the primary by 40 points. Josh went on to win the general election on November 8th and will take office in January.
On this espisode of The Bail Post we learn about Josh Tetens, his decisision to run for District Attorney, the campaign and the issues he sees facing him as he takes office.
SB 6 was a major bail reform bill passed in the last Texas Legislative Session. As a part of the reforms, SB 6 enacted 17.027 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure which applies when a defendant is out on bond for a felony charge and is arrested again on a new felony charge in the same county. Article 17.027 states that the defendant must be magistrated by the judge over his pending case. The statute also says that the provision is not to be interpreted to change the timing requirements set out in article 15.17 (which requires magistration within 48 hours of arrest). On today's episode, Guest Thomas R. Cox, III discusses how this provision is being implemented in Dallas County. We also discuss other criminal justice reform issues on this episode of The Bail Post
On this episode of our podcast, we discuss the impact of rising crime on economic development. In areas across the country we are seeing the impact of bad bail reform policies where business are suffering or closing because of decriminalization policies. Our guest is Eric Granof who has been a guest in the past. Eric discusses a recent presentation he gave at annual meeting for PBT on this matter. Eric is also working on paper on the subject.
Sean Kennedy is a writer and public policy expert focusing on crime, justice, and urban policy. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, City Journal, CNN, and the Chicago Tribune, among others.
In August 2021, Mr. Kennedy wrote an article entitled, "Losing the Victory Over Crime" and he joins us to discuss his article. This article was the original idea for a series of article that appears in the Quarterly Newsletters for PBT this year entitle "Right on Crime Wrong on Crime."
Join us as we address past positions Criminal Justice Positions taken by Right on Crime and see how they stood up to the test of time.
California has been the epicenter of the Criminal Justice Reform/Bail Reform movement. Our guest is Bill Armstrong who is the President of the California Bail Agents Association. California has seen several attempts to reform and get rid of the bail industry. These changes can be traced back to when the State changed many felony offenses and made them misdemeanor offenses and then prosecutors in several urban areas decided that they would no longer prosecute these crimes. This proposition and decisions of prosecutors started the slide of the state of California into chaos. Now businesses are closing because either they cannot withstand wholesale shoplifting to the tune of $25,000.00 a day or the employers cannot provide a safe place for their employees to work.
Since then California's legislature has attempted to go even further. But the votes has refused to go along. California attempted to adopt the New Jersey Plan, but voters said no. But the legislature's attempts to initiate bail reform has continued.
As we continue to shine a light on bail reform/criminal justice reform failures, it is becoming more and more clear that reform is not the goal, but decriminalization is. Voters would never support it so reformers have sold it as "reform."
California is starting to see the light. Help us spread the word to the rest of the country.
Bill Armstrong is a third generation bondsman. Bill's family has been continually writing bail in LA County for over 90 years dating back to Bill's grandfather.
Have you ever heard of the expression that you cannot believe your "lying eyes?" Its a way of saying don't believe what you see, believe what you are being told. No where is this more evident than in Harris County regarding misdemeanor bail reform. Reformers tell us over and over that the reforms are working and that we should not believe anyone else who says otherwise (even the Democrat District Attorney).
In this episode of The Bail Post, we evaluate whether the misdemeanor reforms are working looking at the failure to appear rates for each of the misdemeanor courts for the last two years. The numbers are jaw dropping. Additionally, we are releasing a website where any one in the public can go and see the numbers for themselves. There is no way to sugar coat this. The numbers are not just bad; they are eye openingly bad. They are so bad that our elected officials have to know and have to be intentionally hiding them.
This probably explains why the bad results are spreading to the felony courts as well.
You can see the website by CLICKING HERE.
We are also releasing our first video version of this podcast where you can watch the podcast as well and just listen to the audio. You can see it by CLICKING HERE.
After watching and/or listening to this episode, you will conclude that you can believe your "lying eyes."
In the last few months Representative Ann Johnson publicly called for Texas to get rid of bondsmen and replace the current system of release in Texas with the system referred to as "The New Jersey Plan." On this episode learn what the New Jersey Plan is and how pretrial release is handled under this release system.
Our guest is Michelle Esquenazi who is a bondsman from New York. Join us as we learn a release/detain system that relies on an algorithm called a risk assessment tool to make determinations about release.
To learn more about risk assessments visit the PBT website or go directly to one of the organizations pamphlets on the issue by CLICKING HERE.
This is a great place to educate yourself about all things criminal justice reform/bail reform. Educate yourself and join the debate.
The next Guest on "The Bail Post" James Lindblad. He has been a bondsman in Hawaii for over 35 years. He has witnessed many changes to the criminal justice system over the years. Join us as we discuss HB 1567, its passage and the publics' response which caused the Governor of Hawaii to veto the bill.
Mr. Lindblad suggests that the real fight was over the need for a new jail. HB 1567 was the response of progressives so that a new jail would not be needed. But law enforcement, business owners and the mayors of the four major islands banded together with social media to spread the message that releasing everyone was not working and that a change was needed. The public responded.
Is the "woke" luau over in Hawaii? James Lindblad is hopeful that more positive change is coming.
Several months ago, the Harris County Bail Bond Board adopted a new local rule that requires bondsmen to collect 10% of the face amount of certain bonds before the bond is posted. In the short span of several months there have been some significant and quick ramifications as a result of the board's actions.
On this episode join the discussion with our Guest Representative Gene Newman. Gene is the District 61 elected representative for the Mississippi House of Representatives. Gene also is a second generation bondsman with over 40 years experience. In addition, he has degrees in economics and criminal justice. Representative Newman also has an indepth knowledge of how bail works in Texas and has visited many bail bond board meetings over the years.
Find out why the Harris County sheriff recently asked for an additional $25 million from the commissioners to address what he called unsustainable jail overcrowding. Lina Hidalgo, who is the Harris County Judge, asked what was causing the "bottle neck." Listen to our podcast to find the answer.
J.R. Woolley is the Justice of the Peace of Precinct 2 for Waller County, Texas. Judge Wooley is also the Legislative Committee Chair for the Justices of the Peace Association and he testifies before the legislature about bills that may impact the association.
On this episode of the Bail Post, Judge Woolley talks about the implementation of SB6 which is the major Criminal Justice Reform/Bail Reform Bill passed by the Texas Legislature in the most recent session and special sessions.
Our guest on this episode is Tarrant County Sheriff Bill E. Waybourn. Bill began his career in service when he joined the U.S. Air Force in 1978, serving in both the active duty and reserves. On April 30, 1981, after serving active duty, Bill began working for Dalworthington Gardens Police Department. Bill was promoted to Chief of Police on June 1, 1984; making him the youngest police chief in the state of Texas. Later, he united the city through combining the police and fire services making him the Chief of Public Safety.
In his 31 years as Chief of Dalworthington Gardens, he has testified on numerous cases as an expert witness, pioneered the Texas model for DWI “No Refusal” program—which has been credited with lowering the fatality and DWI rate and is now being used as the model for several surroundings states; testified before the state legislature on a diverse array of issues relating to the Second Amendment and civilians carrying firearms.
He worked with the state legislature on Texas’ original concealed handgun license laws in the 1990’s, as well as the most recent open carry law that passed in 2015. Bill is also extremely honored to have helped the Chris Kyle Bill become a law in Texas—a bill that streamlines the process for military service men and women to become police officers.
He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution. Bill is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the Texas A&M Police Academy, and is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. During Bill’s first term as Sheriff, he has created a Human Trafficking Unit, a Department of Intelligence, aggressive inmate service programs, several less than lethal programs, and numerous other training initiatives. Both Intelligence and Human Trafficking have gained state and national prominence by being on the tip of the spear. Bill often is speaking publicly about various topics to: churches, civic organizations, colleges, and police related events.
Bill is married to Laura Waybourn and together have ten children, eight of which have been adopted. Bill and Laura are zealous and passionate advocates for the fatherless.
Join us as we discuss rising crime, mental health issues and the drugs driving it.
Five-time Emmy award winner Randy Wallace graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a B.A. in Broadcasting. Randy came to Houston where he was quickly hired by KPRC Radio. He spent several years there, making a name for himself as a competitive reporter covering the police beat. In December of 1989, Randy was offered a job at KRIV FOX 26, and became one of the first reporters to appear on the station's highly acclaimed City Under Siege program.
Randy Wallace is our guest as we break down the bad criminal justice reforms in Harris County and their causes.
Quote- Getting rid of the bail industry makes no sense.
The Honorable Ralph Strother retired from the 19th District Court in Waco, McClennan County, Texas. He was on the bench for 22 years where he tried many high profile criminal cases. He was appointed to the bench by then Governor George Bush.
In this episode of the Bail Post, Judge Strother talks about his incredible career, his family and his insights for addressing increasing case backlogs, setting bail and bail reform. Judge Strother has great insights about the process of setting bail. As we see judges in Harris County denying that they are responsible for setting bail and blaming rising crime on the district attorney, it is refreshing to listen to a retired district court judge talk straight that the judges have the responsibility under Texas law to set bail and to continue to oversee the bond after the defendant is released on bail.
According to Judge Strother, if a judge believes that the defendant's current bond is not sufficient to ensure appearance, that the defendant is complying with the conditions on the bond or that public safety is at risk, the judge has the ability and the duty to revoke the bond, hold the bond insufficient or to raise the bond.
The Houston Police Officers Union recently issued a report addressing how misdemeanor bail reform was working in Harris County. The report has some jaw dropping numbers: 76% failure to appear rate, 16% overall appearance rate, 72% of cases are dismissed and 176% growth in the backlog of cases over 10 years.
Office Griffith discusses the report, the district attorney's report issues last year stating some of these same things and the monitor's report which is issued every 4 months and says that misdemeanor reforms are working. Why are the numbers so different in the monitor's report? Listen to learn more.
Shelly Alexander is the President of the Tennessee Association of Professional Bail Agents (TAPBA). She was the Office Manager and a Bail Bondsman for Danny Blankenship Bonding until his sudden passing in 2017. At that time Shelly opened A Close Bonding Co., LLC, which has 17 agents in West and Middle Tennessee serving 23 counties. Ms. Alexander has been a volunteer for the Tennessee Association of Professional Bail Agents (TAPBA) for nine years and has served on the TAPBA Education Committee for eight years. Ms. Alexander was born and raised in Reagan, TN. She currently resides in Lexington, TN. She is the mother to five (Jarrod, Jasmine, Jordan, Alexis and Eli) of which two were adopted from the Department of Children Services in 2018 and have proven to be nothing less than amazing. Jasmine and Jordan are both bail bondsmen. Also, Ms. Alexander is the proud MiMi of three grand girls and has a grandson on the way.
Will Rainey is a member of the board of directors of TAPBA and is the legislative committee chair. Will Rainey is originally from Forrest City, Arkansas. After he graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis in 1996, he became a teacher and coach in the Memphis City Schools. He was later a Service Team Leader at Schneider Freight Company before he began working for a bail bond company in Memphis, Tennessee in 1999. In 2006, he opened United Bonding Company, Inc in Memphis, Tennessee.
He later opened All About Bail Bonds, Inc., which does business in multiple counties in Western Tennessee. He also owns Professional Bail Surety, Inc, a general insurance agency for Continental Heritage insurance company. Mr. Rainey has enjoyed being active in youth sports and other community activities while raising his son.
Join us as we discuss bail in Tennessee and the current Tennessee legislative session.
Topo Padilla is a second generation bondsmen from California. On this episode of the Bail Post, Mr. Padilla discusses bail in California and other bail reform issues across the country.
Mr. Padilla is the newly elected President of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States.
While bail as a pretrial release mechanism has been around since our nation’s beginning and is protected in the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, its continued use in the present day has been questioned by critics of the historically-based pretrial release mechanism.
In a recent study, David Krahl, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at The University of Tampa, found that in terms of sheer cost alone, the use of surety bonding costs Florida taxpayers absolutely nothing in terms of taxpayer dollars, while the use of other forms of unsecured pretrial release has cost more than $95 million dollars over a three-year period.
Krahl’s research, using a random sample of over 9,300 detainees from jails across Florida during a one-year period, showed that 56 percent of defendants who had been arrested spent between one and three days in jail, while two-thirds of the sample spent between one and seven days in jail before they were released. The data also showed that defendants in unsecured pretrial release status spent statistically significant longer time in pretrial detention than did defendants released on a surety bond.
“The notion that large numbers of defendants are languishing away in jail simply because they cannot afford the cost of a surety bond to secure their pretrial release is sheer fiction,” Krahl said. The average stay in jail prior to pretrial release was two days for the overall sample. The most predictive factor in determining number of days of pretrial detention was the number of charges filed against a defendant. No other factor was a predictive factor.
The Bail Post and the Houston Crime Stoppers join together to tell the stories of just some of the victims of Bad Bail Reform. In this episode, we honor the heart breaking story of Rosalie Cook, an 80 year old grandma who went to Walgreens to buy a birthday card. But she never got the birthday card because she was killed by a defendant who was 38 years old at the time. He had been arrested over 70 times and convicted over 60 times. He was released from jail on 2 felony PR (free) bonds. He walked away from his half-way house and no one reported it to the court in the ensuing weeks. He approached Ms. Cook in the parking lot of Walgreens attempting to rob her and steal her car. He ended up killing Mr. Cook in the parking lot.
We also honor Summer Chester who was a college student who was working her way through college when she was brutally run over as she was walking through an intersection by someone who should have never been released from jail in the first place. The defendant had been arrested for capital murder for a home invasion where he killed the homeowner in his sleep and killed another person fleeing. Instead, of denying bond as authorized by the Texas Constiution, the court set the defendant's bond at $250,000.00. Then the defendant was accused of a new crime in the county jail and was charged with a new offense that was a felony. Also, the defendant had over 90 pages of incidents documented while he was in jail. When the defendant could not post a bond, the defendant asked the court to lower the bond and the trial court agreed to lower the bond to $50,000.00. But for the trial court's actions Ms. Chester would be alive today.
To learn more about Houston Crime Stoppers visit their website- https://crime-stoppers.org/. You can also visit them on-
Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/CrimeStoppersOfHouston
Twitter- https://twitter.com/CrimeStopHOU
Kellye and Anthony Cooper are bondsmen in Mount Pleasant, Texas. They talk about their bonding business and the ways that they keep up with defendants and how they help improve public safety.
Also, their son is a Marine. When they became military parents, they began looking for ways to support their son. Kellye created a nonprofit organization referred to as "M.O.M" (Ministering Our Military). If you are interested in leaning more about this great cause you can visit the website for Mom at (https://www.momtx.org/) or by visiting their facebook page Ministering Our Military.
On this episode, there is also a discussion regarding the allegation that bondsmen are the cause of crime increasing. As Kellye says this is a hard argument to understand from the otherside because it flies in the face of logic.
We are hearing more and more about Bail Funds in the news and the stories are not positive. Stories have highlighted instances of Charitable Bail Funds posting cash bonds for individuals with substantial criminal histories and then these same individuals go on to commit even more awful crimes upon release.
Joining our discussion today are two guests:
Eric Granof
Vice President, Corporate Communications
Chief Marketing Officer – Expert Bail Network
AIA Surety
Mike Whitlock
Executive Vice President
American Surety
On January 7, 2022, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issues an important new opinion in Cause No. 18-11368; Daves v. Dallas County; In the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (January 7, 2022). This is a huge decision and reverses O'donnell on a key issue. Listen to the podcast to find out more.
You can download the opinion by CLICKING HERE.
You can see PBT's blog post about the opinion by CLICKING HERE.
Everyone agrees crime is increasing in Harris County, but there is substantial disagreement over why. Listen to a lively discussion with our guests: City Councilman Michael Kubosh, Officer Douglas Griffith who is President of the Houston Police Officer's Association and Mario Garza, President of the Harris County Bondsmen Association.
The Bail Post highlights the articles in the January 2022 Newsletter of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas.
Welcome to the first episode of a new podcast. My name is Ken W. Good and I am an attorney in Texas specializing in Bail Law. From California to New York there has been a push for what I think now we would call bad bail reform and even bad criminal justice reform. As we have seen crime increasing over the last year, my hope is that we can find common ground by discussing what works and why certain reforms do not seem to work. I hope that you will find this podcast informative and start discussions about these and other issues. On today’s episode we will be talking to three bondsmen to find out what it is exactly that they do.