The Bail Post

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 Independent 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 surety bail to give any kind of comparison.  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.