He says on the stand what he has been saying elsewhere.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez took the witness stand for an hour Wednesday afternoon in a closely watched federal civil rights case that is challenging whether it is constitutional to impose monetary bail on people arrested for minor offenses if they cannot afford to pay it.
Gonzalez confirmed his opinion that the money bail system is arbitrary, unfair to poor defendants and undermines public safety.
“I personally do not believe it’s a rational system,” he said. “It should be equal protection for everyone.”
When an attorney representing Harris County judges asked him about the death rate at the jail being lower than outside the jail, the federal judge interrupted and asked if he was suggesting jail was a better place to be. The attorney, John O’Neill reframed the question.
[…]
Gonzalez sat in court at the defense table for three hours Wednesday morning, listening as another opponent of the bail system testified about a system he said “doesn’t pass the laugh test.”
See here and here for some background. Sheriff Gonzalez was not the only elected official to take the stand.
Harris County Criminal Court at Law Judge Darrell Jordan, on the bench since January, also testified Wednesday before Rosenthal about his experience as a defense attorney and now as judge who must make dozens of bail decisions each day. He has begun releasing misdemeanor defendants on personal bonds if they have no holds. If they have risk factors or holds he has a conversation to see what they can afford.
Jordan said he’s seen in other courts that innocent defendants often plead guilty if they can’t make bail, just so they can get out and maintain their livelihoods.
The county is in the process of reforming its system of assessing defendants’ flight risk and setting bail. In the meantime, plaintiffs are asking Rosenthal to impose a temporary injunction, making immediate fixes so that bail is made easier for nonviolent defendants. Rosenthal asked Jordan if he believed the county would stop running a system in which people plead guilty because they are poor without an injunction.
His answer: “No.”
I think the fact that we’re having a trial over this is pretty good evidence to that effect as well. I can’t wait to see what the defense’s case looks like. The Press has more.
It is a terrible system. I know for a fact as I experienced it on a misdemeanor trespass. I’ve never had a bond before! People were getting released left and right on PR bonds. Thank God I didn’t have a family court hearing while incarcerated and indigent!