(The Center Square ) – Gov. Greg Abbott has plans to create a new statewide prosecutor’s office to prosecute violent crimes that local district attorneys won’t. While the district attorney and judges in Harris County are now setting a precedent of denying bail, he’s hoping others will follow. Those that don’t, he says, “If you don’t start enforcing the law, we’re coming after you.”
Abbott, who is running for his fourth term, spoke about his efforts to combat crime and support for law enforcement at a campaign event in Houston Thursday, also raking in endorsements from law enforcement agencies statewide.
After new laws are in effect supporting law enforcement, judges and prosecutors to keep criminals off the streets, Abbott said, “We’re sending a message to everybody that if you don’t start enforcing the law, we’re coming after you.
“It’s also a message to Houstonians, to our fellow Texans, that Texas leadership is prioritizing public safety. Every Texan has a right to live safely in their community, to safely go shopping or dining or entertainment or church, whatever the case may be. And we are going to work every single day until we achieve that goal.”
Abbott spoke in a city whose residents led a movement in the last two elections targeting judges who were releasing repeat violent offenders onto the streets and cite crime as a top concern, The Center Square reported.
Abbott and the Republican-led legislature responded again last year by advancing a bail reform measure and constitutional amendment voters overwhelmingly passed.
Not soon after the new law went into effect, Houstonians are already seeing results.
So far, two female judges in Houston were the first to deny bail in murder trials – both granting requests made by the Democratic-led DA’s office.
On Wednesday, Judge Emily Muñoz Detoto, of the 177th Criminal Court, denied bail to a defendant charged with murdering a student in broad daylight in a Baytown high school classroom. In December, Judge Michele Oncken, of the 338th District Court, was the first judge in Texas to deny bail to an illegal foreign national who who is charged with the murder of a taco truck owner in broad daylight, The Center Square reported.
In both cases, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, led by a Democrat, requested bail be denied in a new 11D hearing process stemming from the new law Abbott championed.
When asked by The Center Square if he was surprised that a Democratic DA’s office was requesting that bail be denied, Abbott replied that he wasn’t because the new law provides additional tools for prosecutors and judges to use and using them is “common sense.”
“Because of what we were able to achieve, it provides more tools, but also there is a philosophy behind it,” Abbott said. “And that is whether you’re a DA, whether you’re a judge, whether anybody involved in that process, you have to make a decision. Are you going to represent and protect the citizens that you represent or are you going to represent and support the murderers who killed them? That’s a very easy choice. Keep the murderers behind bars, keep your constituents safe.”
When asked what the statewide prosecutor’s office would look like, he said, “We’re still fleshing out the way that it would look. I can give you a possible pathway for it. It would be similar to what we did on bail reform. To help you understand the context here, before the bail reform package passed, there was only one crime in the constitution that said that a judge could automatically deny bail, and that was for capital murder. Now there are a total of 10 crimes for which a judge can automatically deny bail. Those are the 10 crimes that are the most dangerous, that pose the greatest danger to our fellow Texans.”
“We’re going to have a similar approach with regards to a statewide prosecutor, and that is for, let’s say, those very same 10 most dangerous crimes,” Abbott explained. “If a prosecutor refuses to bring an indictment to prosecute one of those dangerous criminals within a certain time-period, let’s say 60 days, then the state prosecutor would have the option to prosecute that case.”
One target is Travis County, he said, pointing to the recent murder of a Caldwell County constable who was working off-duty security at a night club in Austin. He “was murdered by a criminal in Travis County who had 33 crimes that he’d been arrested for and was back out on the street. Had the DA done his job and put that criminal behind bars, that law enforcement officer would be alive today,” Abbott said.
The alleged murderer “previously faced 33 criminal cases in Travis County, nine felony cases and 24 misdemeanor cases, since 2005.” He was arrested “by the U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force on an unrelated felony warrant. Police said he has multiple prior convictions, including assault of a family member and multiple drug possession convictions,” KXAN News reported.
“I’m tired of law enforcement officers, tired of our fellow Texans being killed because prosecutors are not doing their job and putting these dangerous criminals behind bars,” Abbott said. “I want to ensure that we weld shut the revolving door of easy bail for dangerous criminals. I want to hold rogue district attorneys accountable by establishing a statewide prosecutor’s office. I want to keep dangerous criminals behind bars.”
