A federal judge has denied requests by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and four Harris County criminal court-at-law judges to end the 2019 consent decree that governs misdemeanor bail in Harris County, leaving the county’s cashless misdemeanor bail system in place for now.
U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas ruled Monday that the requests came too late, years after the appeals court precedent they relied on, and so were not filed within a reasonable time. The decree, which settled the ODonnell bail lawsuit, allows nearly all people charged with Class A and Class B misdemeanors in Harris County to be released before trial without posting cash bail.
The four judges have appealed Rosenthal’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, so the case is not finished. Paxton’s office declined to comment. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said his “North Star is making sure that we can truly keep the community safe from those accused.”
Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita sit inside Harris County, so the county’s misdemeanor bail rules apply to arrests made here. The ruling was reported by KPRC 2 Houston and by Houston Public Media.
