Texas Senate passes legislation to keep some defendants in jail without bail. Here's why.

Yahoo

21-02-2025

The Texas Senate, by nearly unanimous votes, has passed a package of bail reform legislation that would authorize judges to deny bail to people without legal status to be in the U.S. who are charged with a felony as well as for anyone accused of committing violent crimes.
If approved by the Legislature and Texas voters, Senate Joint Resolution 1, or "Jocelyn's Law," would keep persons without authority to be in the U.S. who are charged with felonies behind bars until trial. The upper chamber passed the proposed constitutional amendment by 29-2 vote Wednesday.
Another proposal, SJR 5, would give judges wider discretion to deny bail for certain violent charges like murder and aggravated sexual assault. The Senate passed that proposed constitutional amendment by a 28-2 vote Thursday.
Under the Texas Constitution's Bill of Rights, judges may only deny bail under specific circumstances. Houston Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, who authored the legislation, said the current constitutional requirement to offer bail to some defendants, even if a judge might find them to be dangerous, is a massive public safety risk.
"Since January 2021 … there have been at least 162 homicide cases filed in Harris County, Texas, for defendants released on one or more bonds at the time of a new murder offense," Huffman said Thursday on the Senate floor. "Think about that — 162 people needlessly killed, families grieving and suffering because this Legislature failed to enact common-sense, fair legislation."
It was not immediately clear how many of those cases included defendants who were released on bail after being charged with a violent felony. The Senate adopted similar proposals in 2021 and 2023, but those died in the House.
Four out of the five pieces of bail reform legislation Huffman authored were passed out of committee last week during a hearing that included emotional testimony from surviving family members of homicide victims.
More: Denying bail? Why a Texas Senate panel approved reform plan to keep some defendants in jail
Witnesses at the committee hearing included the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, after whom SJR 1 is named. Nungaray's body was found in a Houston bayou in June after she was allegedly bound, sexually assaulted and strangled to death by two men who are believed to be in the U.S. illegally, according to authorities.
Though the two defendants remain in jail awaiting trial in Harris County with bail set at $10 million each, Huffman argued that giving them a chance to post bail at all could pose a problem.
"These two men were not denied bail for the murder of Jocelyn, even (with) the preponderance of the evidence that existed at arraignment and the fact that their illegal alien status presented a major flight risk," Huffman said. "If these men had had the financial means, they could be out on the streets today."
Opponents of the Senate's bail reform package said Wednesday during a call with reporters that the legislation is unjust and could further burden an already stressed pretrial system in Texas.
"Not only is this bill unnecessary — judges can and already do detain people pretrial without bail — but it is also dangerous. It threatens to not only undermine public safety by subjecting more people to incarceration, but also to undermine due process protections and increase taxpayer burdens," said Emma Stammen, a policy strategist with the Bail Project.
Organizations like the Bail Project, which provides bail assistance to low-income defendants, are advocating for bail reform that is opposite to what the Senate passed this week. Stammen said the organization supports proposals like House Bill 799 by Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, that would largely eliminate cash bail for defendants charged with a misdemeanor or state jail felony. The bill would require magistrate judges to release those defendants pretrial unless the judge believes they would pose a public safety or flight risk.
"This bill is really important, because more than half of Texans who are held in custody before trial have been accused of low-level, nonviolent offenses, and the system in Texas really should be focusing on dangerous people who actually pose a threat to society," Stammen said.
The Senate passed four bail reform bills Wednesday and Thursday by a significant majority. All four now head to the House of Representatives. The two proposed constitutional amendments would need the support of two-thirds of the House and a majority of Texas voters to become law.
Senate Joint Resolution 1: This would amend the Texas Constitution to prevent defendants charged with a felony and suspected of being in the U.S. illegally from being released on bail.
Senate Joint Resolution 5: This proposed constitutional amendment would allow judges to deny bail to defendants charged with certain violent crimes, like murder and aggravated sexual assault.
Senate Bill 9: This bill would change a number of things about the bail system, including increasing the amount of information available to judges when setting bail. It would also require judges who do not deny bail for certain violent charges to provide a written statement on the reasoning for their decision.
Senate Bill 40: This bill would prevent public money from being transferred to charitable bail organizations like the Bail Project.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Senate OKs bills to keep some defendants in jail without bail