Kim Ogg
District Attorney Kim Ogg is rallying police officers across Harris County to show up in federal court en masse to oppose to a landmark bail reform agreement at a final hearing set for this month.
She emailed about 100 police chiefs to invite them to attend an Oct. 28 court proceeding before Chief U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal to lend support on an issue she says “endangers the public.”
In addition to recruiting top brass to the hearing, Ogg also requested that her lieutenants be present to support her concerns about portions of the settlement that allowed most defendants arrested on minor offenses to await trial at home without posting up-front cash bail, according to her spokesman, Dane Schiller.
Ogg expressed misgivings about the proposed consent decree approved last summer by Commissioners Court after months of intensive meetings between county leaders, judges and the lawyers for the plaintiffs in the 2016 class action.
Ogg, who is not a defendant in the lawsuit, is among a number of parties, including many from the bail bond industry, who submitted concerns about the settlement in court during the summer.
“The district attorney has always supported bail reform, so that nobody is held just because they are poor, but she also says public safety should always be considered,” Schiller said.
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The county public defender, who has been friends with Ogg since law school, said he suspects Ogg’s approach will be perceived as overkill by Rosenthal, the region’s highest ranking lifetime appointee to the federal bench.
“A courtroom full of police officers is not going to intimidate her,” said Harris County Public Defender Alex Bunin. “She might be insulted that they would do that to her.”
“It’s over the top, and this kind of bravado backfires every time,” Bunin added. He said the majority of the concerns Ogg raised were resolved by a judicial rule passed in January.
See here and here for the background. I agree with Alex Bunin here, this is not going to help and will serve as fuel for Ogg’s primary opponents. The fears being expressed are overblown, and frankly it’s fine by me if the county has to experience a little inconvenience to accommodate a non-violent offender who need assistance getting back to court. As I’ve said before, I’d much rather pay for an Uber for that guy than pay to feed, clothe, and house him for some number of weeks or months. Maybe – stay with me here – we could arrest fewer of these non-violent mostly drug offenders in the first place, which would go a long way towards reducing inconvenience for everyone. In the meantime, the bail agreement is in place and it is going to be the law. Let’s all do what we can to make it work.
She’s way too conservative for her party. On a side note, I like Kim as a person
Jennifer,
I’m just curious….why do you say Ogg is too conservative? What has she done, said, or promulgated that is too conservative for you? Do you think that criminal justice, by its nature, is conservative? Again, just asking, I’d like to hear your view.
Because the party is torn between its left wing and its moderate elements. Kim is far from conservative-she has supported bail reform and slashed the number of low level charges that are accepted. She has expanded diversion and mental health programs. The office has largely abandoned seeking the death penalty and she stuck her neck out on cases like Brown. But that’s not good enough for the far left who seem to want a PD in DA clothing. Unfortunately for Kim, a lot of these policies, as well as the new wave of judges, has angered a lot of law enforcement. That’s seems to be what this is really about- trying to mend some of that and getting LEO support heading closer to elections. Strategically, it seems questionable as it seems to be a vulnerability in the primary.