The Bail Post

On this episode of The Bail Post, we reach several milestones.  First, this is episode number 50.  Second this is the start of Season 3 of the Bail Post. On Season 1, the first episode focused on what bondsmen do.  On Season 2, the first episode highlighted why the private industry was so much more successful than any other release mechanism. For Season 3, the first episode focuses on what it is t...

Following the death of George Floyd, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus proposed an extensive legislative package that included criminal justice reforms alongside reforms in education, health care and human services, and economic policy.  The bill was referred to as The Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act, commonly known as the SAFE-T Act. The bill made a number of reforms to...

Lucy Adame-Clark was born in San Antonio, Texas. She attended Sidney Lanier High School and attended Southern Careers Institute in San Antonio for paralegal studies. Prior to becoming county clerk, Adame-Clark worked in the Bexar County Sheriff's office from 1997 to 2018. There she worked as a booking ID clerk from 1997 to 2008, a latent print examiner/AFIS in the criminal investigation divis...

On this episode of The Bail Post we discuss Russell v. Harris County .  This case was filed to extend the ruling in ODonnell regarding misdemeanor judges issued by the Honorable Lee Rosenthal to the felony judges. When the case was originally filed, the plaintiffs did not even sue the district court judges.  Suit was filed against Harris County and the Harris County Sheriff.  Next, the case was &q...

David Zimmer is a Policy Fellow at Center of the American Experiment, where he writes about criminal justice and public safety. Mr. Zimmer served 33 years in local law enforcement with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, retiring as a Captain. During his law enforcement career, Mr. Zimmer served as a deputy and a supervisor in areas including the Jail, Courts, Patrol/Water Patrol, Investigations...

On Episode No. 45 on The Bail Post, we discuss a debate that we recently participated in against a representative of Civil Rights Corps.  This is the organization that has filed bail reform and criminal justice reform litigation across the United States.  This organization filed all of the cases in Texas that made their way to the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.  These cases in...

On this Episode of the Bail Post we are at the PBT Annual Meeting and we are recording "live" to tape where we have a panel discussion regarding the Inside Scoop about Bail Bond Boards.  Our guests are Ethel Segura and Michelle Turner.  Ethel Segura is the Bail Bond Administrator for the Bexar County Bail Bond Board.  Michelle Turner is the 1st Assistant County Attorney for Fort Bend Cou...

A County Judge can be the judge of a constitutional county court, a judge of a county court at law or the judge presiding over a county's commissioners court.  On this episode of The Bail Post our guest is the The Honorable Judge Tim O'Hare.  He is the Tarrant County Judge over the commissioners court.    After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin in 1991 with a BBA in Finan...

On this episode of The Bail Post, we discuss two different counties approaches to federal bail litigation.  In both counties, the federal courts entered preliminary injunctions to fundamentally change local bail procedures.  In Schultz v. Alabama , the county appealed, refused to settle and fought the litigation every step of the way.  The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the preliminary...

Anne Marie Schubert is a career prosecutor.  Schubert earned a bachelor's degree from Saint Mary’s College of California in 1986 and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco in 1989. Her career experience includes being the Sacramento County District Attorney, Supervising Deputy District Attorney of the Sacramento District Attorney's Office, and Deputy District Attorney of Contra Cost...

In Texas, the new rules for magistration went into effect on April 1, 2022 that required the review of a Public Safety Report setting out the defendant's criminal history before bail is set.  On Episode Number 40 of The Bail Post we discuss the lessons that have been learned after magistrating under the new rules for the last year.  Our guest is The Honorable Tamara Tinney who is a magistrate...

On this Episode of The Bail Post we get a report of the Texas Legislative Session looking at Criminal Justice Issues including SB 1318, SJR 44, HB 227 and others.  We also touch on whether bail will be part of any upcoming Special Sessions and the elephant in the room regarding the Impeachment trial planned for September. Our guest is the PBT Legislative Committee Chair- Scott Walstad.

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 highli...

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 P...

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 th...

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 t...

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....

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 op...

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...

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.

Tillmin Welch have been a bondsmen for over 30 years.  He is a past president of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas.  He is a former board member.  He has been honored as Bondsmen of The Year and has been awarded a honorary lifetime membership.  He is also the former long serving chair of the PBT Legislative Committee.  Join us as we discuss how PBT has navigated past legislative sessions. Tillmin...

Randy Cauthen has a unique perspective on bail.  Randy worked in law enforcement for over 27 years.  After retiring, Randy was not ready to be idle.  So he began a second career in the bail industry.  He is the President of the North Carolina Bail Agents Association and was a 2019 inductee into the Hall of Fame for the bail agents association.  Join us as we learn about how bail operates in North...

Season 2 is HERE!  This season begins much like the way that Season 1 began; a back to basics.  We start Season 2 by asking the question of "Why is the private surety system so effective?"  Throughout the United States the different release mechanisms used can be grouped into four categories:  the private surety bail system, cash bonds, personal bonds and preventative detention.  The pri...