The corona virus may do more long term damage than any tornado or hurricane that has hit the state of Texas. The ramifications will be felt for many years to come.
These are interesting times. As district attorneys' offices across the state of Texas are attempting to struggle with how to address various non-bail related matters, we would like to highlight several issues for your consideration.
Business As Usual?
If your county is open and everything is taking place as usual, then you are one of the lucky ones. Please keep up the good work. Also, start the planning on what you will do.
Offices Restricted, Working From Home Or On Skeleton Staff
If your office is crazy, you can bet that everyone else in the county is crazy as well. In all the chaos please consider the following from our perspective:
Dockets
The Supreme Court of Texas and the Court of Criminal Appeals have both entered orders to govern this time. Which one govens bond forfeiture cases? Chapter 22 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure states that a bond forfeiture is governed by the same rules applicable to civil cases. Therefore, portions of the order from the Supreme Court of Texas order may and probably does govern bond forfeiture cases.
In Dallas County after a shelter in place order was issued yesterday, all Felony bond forfeiture dockets were continued until May.
Rearrests
Many jails are not arresting many offenses at present. If the jail will not take a defendant after the bondsmen locates the defendant, what happens? Here are a few things to consider:
- In New Orleans, after flooding from another natural disaster, bondsmen would take a defendant to the front of the jail and take his picture with a newspaper from that day to show that he had been located but that the jail would not taken him. Other things that were done would include video. Please consider what actions your local bondsmen should be taking to address this same situation.
- Some offices are considering giving the bondsmen more time to rearrest. If your office is considering this keep in mind that as more people lose their jobs they will be displaced. This will make it hard to prosecute the criminal case as well as locate the defendant.
- Would this situation be a reason for a discretionary remittitur under 22.16 (c) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure? What is your position?
- Consider whether a temporary settlement policy for just these types of cases which meet certain conditions be appropriate. The state should not be prejudiced by this very unique situation. Also, the bonding company should not as well.
Remittiturs and Other Documents
If your office accepts remittiturs or reinstatements, please consider setting up temporary procedures to facilitate the filing of these doucments. Harris County has set up a procedure for emailing requests for reinstatements and waiving the requirement of signatures during this time.
As we are facing counties which are issuing shelter in place orders, the questions that we are receiving are focusing on several issues. First, a bonding company located the defendant but was not able to have him rearrested because the jail would not take him into custody.
List Serve
Many of you are members of a list serve of district attorneys. This is an invaluable resource for the exchange of information. During this time, consider including either Randly Adler, Ken W. Good or Roger Moore to your important discussions. We can be a good resource.
