Latest news with #SenateJointResolution87
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bail reform measure fails on House floor ahead of vote on Jocelyn's Law
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A joint resolution that would require a magistrate or judge to deny bail to someone who is a repeat offender of a violent crime narrowly failed on the House floor Tuesday. Senate Joint Resolution 87 is a part of a bail reform package spearheaded by State Sen. Joan Huffman, R – Houston, and strongly supported by Gov. Greg Abbott. It would amend the constitution to require a judge to deny bail for anyone who is accused of certain violent crimes — like murder and aggravated assault — and is either out on bail for a similar crime or been convicted for a similar crime. Because it is a constitutional amendment, it needs two-thirds approval from the House, or 100 votes. The final tally on the third reading of the vote was 97 yeas, just three votes short of the needed amount. Supporters of the legislation argue innocent Texans are being injured and murdered by people who are out on bail for a serious crime they already committed. State Rep. Armando Martinez, a Democrat from Weslaco, spoke in favor of SJR 87 saying the resolution is 'protecting Texans by saying one murder is too many and two is absolutely unacceptable.' However, opponents of SJR 87 argue it takes away a person's due process and presumption of innocence. 'Why not lock up all people accused of crimes indefinitely for fear that they might do something. I guarantee that a handful of lives will be saved doing that too. But at what cost? The cost of our liberty,' State Rep. Joe Moody, D – El Paso, said in opposition to the joint resolution. Wednesday is the deadline for the House to pass all Senate bills and resolutions before midnight. On the calendar ahead of that deadline is SJR 1, also known as Jocelyn's Law. It's named after Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Houston girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered near her home in June 2024. Houston police say they found her body in shallow water underneath a bridge within walking distance of her home. Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel and Franklin Pena, two Venezuelan nationals, are charged with sexual assault and murder. Her death shocked the local community, but its impact was far-reaching. SJR 1 would require a judge to deny bail to a person in the country illegally who is accused of a violent crime. When it was read a second time on the House floor it only received 88 votes. That's enough to get to a third reading, but it too will need 100 votes to pass out of the House. It has been postponed seven times since then, and Wednesday is its last day to get passed. If it does get the required votes, it would need to be approved by Texas voters at the ballot in November. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas House fails to pass automatic bail denial for repeat offenders
The Brief A proposed Texas constitutional amendment to deny bail to certain repeat offenders failed in the House. The measure fell three votes short of the 100 needed to put it on the ballot for public vote. The rejection means a key part of Governor Abbott's bail reform agenda will not move forward as a constitutional amendment. AUSTIN, Texas - A proposed amendment to the Texas Constitution that would deny bail to repeat offenders of violent crimes failed in the House Tuesday afternoon. Senate Joint Resolution 87 fell three votes short of the 100 needed to put the constitutional amendment on the ballot. The measure had support from all Republicans in the chamber at the time of the vote and just nine Democrats. The resolution would have automatically denied bail to anyone accused of certain felonies that they had previously been convicted of a felony or were out on bond at the time of the alleged offense. The amendment would have required judges to find probable cause that the accused committed one of these offenses: murder, capital murder, aggravated assault involving serious bodily injury, aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault, indecency with a child, trafficking of persons, or continuous trafficking of persons. The proposal failed 93-32 in a floor vote Monday. What they're saying Those who supported the motion said it was to make sure high-risk offenders were not released before trial. They said it would take pressure off of judges who decide bail in high-pressure or violent cases. "Had this resolution passed two years ago or four years ago, we know for certain lives would've been saved because people would not have been killed by other people out on bond," Rep. Mitch Little said. The other side Those against the resolution argued that it violates a person's right to due process and undermines the presumption of innocence. They said the amendment would cause more financial trouble for those left in jail if they were later found to be innocent. "Why not lock up all people accused of crimes indefinitely for fear that they may do something?" Rep. Joe Moody said. "I guarantee a handful of lives will be saved by doing that, too. But at what cost? The cost of our liberty. The cost of the state inflicting immense, life-destroying punishment on people who haven't been convicted of anything." SJR 87 is just one piece of a larger push in the state legislature to reform the bail process in Texas. Bail reform has been a goal of Gov. Greg Abbott this session. Last week the House pushed through Senate Joint Resolution 5, Senate Bill 664, Senate Bill 40 and Senate Bill 9. SJR 5 would add a constitutional amendment requiring judges to automatically deny bail for violent crimes like murder, rape or human trafficking, "unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant will appear in court and not endanger the community." Judges who release violent criminals under the new system would be required to explain the decision in writing. Prosecutors would be able to challenge the judges' bail decisions. The amendment will be put on ballots in November for a public vote. Passing on a 113-30 vote, Senate Bill 40 would prevent municipalities from using taxpayer dollars to bail defendants out of jail. The bill helps ensure that taxpayer funds are used for public safety expenses, like law enforcement, state prosecutors and jail operations. Senate Bill 9 would prevent a judge from granting a cashless personal bond for certain offenses. Under the bill, the state could appeal bail decisions if prosecutors felt the amount was insufficient. The rule would keep the defendant in jail for up to 20 days while the appeal is considered. Bond reform has been a priority for Abbott. Currently, only capital murder suspects are exempt from bonds. Why you should care Because bail is written into the Texas Constitution, it requires a constitutional amendment to alter. That requires a two-thirds vote in both the Texas House and Senate. Bail reform was one of seven emergency items laid out by the governor earlier this year. Under the Texas constitution, bail is a right for almost everyone arrested. The exceptions are people charged with capital murder, some people charged with certain repeat felonies or certain instances where bail has been violated in the past. Dig deeper Bail is the amount of money a defendant must pay to be released from jail. The system is used to incentivize the accused to appear for court hearings. The bond, if paid in full by the accused, is refundable if they attend all hearings. Those that can't afford to pay the full amount can go through a bail bond company that usually requires a nonrefundable payment of 10% of the total amount. In exchange, the bail bond company guarantees the rest of the amount if the defendant doesn't appear in court. Other times, a judge can release a defendant on a personal recognizance bond that does not require any money, on the promise the defendant will appear for hearings. The Source Information on the bail reform bills comes from the Texas Legislature and comments made on the House floor. Backstory on Gov. Abbott's bail reform push comes from previous FOX reporting. Backstory on Texas bail laws comes from the Texas Constitution. Bail definitions come from the American Bar Association.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Proposal to automatically deny bail to repeat offenders falls in Texas House
The Texas House on Monday rejected a last-minute proposal asking voters to amend the state Constitution to automatically deny bail to certain repeat offenders, with Democrats banding together to defeat a final part a long-running push to jail more dangerous defendants before trial. Senate Joint Resolution 87, part of a broader package stiffening the state's bail laws, fell short of the 100 votes necessary to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot, winning votes from all present Republicans and just nine Democrats. It failed, 93 to 32, with 19 Democrats declining to take a position by marking themselves 'present' or not at all. The House will have one more chance to adopt the proposal tomorrow, though its path to 100 votes remained unclear. The House approved the centerpiece of the bail package and one of Gov. Greg Abbott's top priorities, Senate Joint Resolution 5, last week. Under the state Constitution, almost everyone who is arrested has the right to be released on bail. The limited exceptions are people charged with capital murder and those accused of certain repeat felonies or bail violations. According to the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court, bail cannot be excessive, and pretrial detention largely should not be considered the default unless the defendant is a flight or safety risk, as criminal defendants are still legally presumed innocent. SJR 87 would have automatically detained and denied bail to anyone accused of certain felonies if they had previously been convicted of a felony or were out on bond at the time of the alleged offense. The resolution would have required a judge to find 'probable cause' — a relatively low burden of proof — that the defendant committed one of the listed offenses, which include murder, aggravated assault and human trafficking. Proponents of the measure, which sprinted through the Senate this month, argued that requiring automatic denial of bail was necessary to rein in judges letting dangerous defendants out on bond and to protect the public from people who commit more crimes while out of jail before trial. 'If we do not pass it, we will not be able to properly constrain judges who would release certain very dangerous people on the streets of our cities, our towns and our counties in the state of Texas,' Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville and the proposal's House sponsor, said on the floor Monday. 'That is the moral conundrum we are in: Are we willing to allow the law to remain unchanged and put more people at risk?' The House agreed unanimously to name the measure, 'Jocelyn's Law,' after Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Houstonian whose alleged killers were found to have entered the United States illegally from Venezuela. (The suspects were out on federal custody, not on bail, at the time of the crime.) 'We're talking about an effective class of people that amounts to 0.0084% of our population,' Little said. 'That is a number that is so infinitesimally small that it will not matter to you unless you are Paul Castro and your son David is shot in the head on the freeway in Houston for no reason at all. It is a number that will not matter to you unless you are Alexis Nungaray and your daughter is gone forever.' Democrats and civil rights advocates denounced the measure, arguing that it obliterated defendants' due process rights and judges' discretion to consider whether someone is a flight or public safety risk. 'You have a prior conviction and someone accuses you of something new — straight to jail,' said Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso, the top Democratic negotiator on bail issues this session. 'Not only have you not been convicted of the new accusation, but nothing even has to be considered in terms of your dangerousness or your flight risk.' 'We don't do that anywhere, ever, for any other kind of bail setting,' he added. 'We never have, and we shouldn't do it now.' Moody argued that Senate Republicans were 'moving the goalposts on bail' and trying to force SJR 87 through in the final days of session after months of uphill negotiations to secure a bipartisan agreement on the main proposal of the bail package, Senate Joint Resolution 5, which was adopted overwhelmingly last week. As Moody spoke against the measure, Rep. Harold Dutton Jr., D-Houston, lined up at the chamber's back microphone to ask questions in opposition to the proposal. His favorite refrain about the Senate, as members well know, goes, 'If they won't respect us, they need to expect us.' SJR 87 'was filed just days ago at the end of session and rocketed over to the House,' Moody said, highlighting several bipartisan House criminal justice bills that have languished in the Senate. 'This just isn't about the bad policy contained in SJR 87. This is about the dignity of this chamber, and I see Mr. Dutton standing at the back mic. Mr. Dutton, this is an 'expect us' moment.' First round of TribFest speakers announced! Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker; U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-California; and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas are taking the stage Nov. 13–15 in Austin. Get your tickets today!
