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Forget New York: Even in TEXAS, violent criminals are being released from jail

Forget New York: Even in TEXAS, violent criminals are being released from jail

In many respects, Texas has already turned blue. The criminal justice system in large Texas cities is now more pro-criminal at the expense of public safety than blue states were just a few years ago. The latest example is Bexar County’s obsession with letting out violent felons without bail.

An investigative report by KSAT 12 in San Antonio found that from June to September, “close to 2,600 defendants were interviewed by pretrial services staff for a possible personal recognizance (PR) bond.” KSAT reports, “Among the dozens of defendants who were interviewed and then quickly released on PR bonds included suspects charged with injury to a child, assault of a public servant and arson.”

While PR bonds are usually reserved for first-time, nonviolent offenders, KSAT found people who were released after being charged with murder and aggravated sexual assault. The investigation further found that the concerning trend began under former District Attorney Nico LaHood and continues today under DA Joe Gonzales. The number of PR bonds issued nearly doubled from 117 in 2015 to 228 in 2018.

Then, even those who are not let out on PR bonds are often released after posting very low bail, despite the severity of the charge. Xavier Moreno Cardoza and Delfino Rojas Jr. were arrested this week in Bexar County for drugging and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. They even admitted to touching her while she was unconscious, yet Cardoza’s bail was set at $50,000 and Rojas’ at $10,000. Rojas has already posted bail and was released, according to Bexar County jail records.

This has also been a big problem in Houston. Last week, two cops were killed by two separate repeat violent offenders. One of them, Dewayne Henderson, had a history of bragging about posting small sums of money for bail, despite charges in three separate counties. Yet, even though he was charged with capital murder for killing a female sergeant, he was offered low bail.



Thankfully, Governor Greg Abbott is promising to push legislation dealing with the jailbreak at least of cop killers, but this is happening in almost every state without any opposition. However, he has certainly not been the most aggressive opponent of the broader jailbreak agenda. And it’s not just pretrial release, it’s also the actual sentences. At a time when politicians in both parties are wrongly claiming that nonviolent felons are locked up for too long, even the most violent ones are barely locked up because liberal judges are returning to the pre-Reagan attitude on sentencing. There is a need for focus and intervention from anyone who claims to be a conservative.

Just last week, a Missouri circuit judge suspended a 20-year murder sentence of a teenager who killed a retired St. Louis cop last year. Justin Mathews was convicted of murdering retired St. Louis police Sergeant Ralph Harper last October during a robbery of the officer in front of his nephew’s home. Last Thursday, Missouri Circuit Judge Michael Noble suspended the 20-year sentence and ordered the 16-year-old to enter a “program” at juvenile hall, which will enable his release at the age of 21.

Thus, even in the reddest states in America, many murderers are barely serving time. Then, in the blue states, Democrats are pushing the pedal to the metal on dismantling justice in America at every step of the criminal justice process. And of course, the final step, which is the entire impetus for the jailbreak movement, is to register felons to vote. New Jersey just passed a law restoring felons’ voting rights. Then again, even in bright red Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear restored the voting rights of 140,000 felons with an executive order in his first week in office.

There is a reason why all these laws designed to hamper convictions and keep criminals out of prison are passing right alongside laws to restore felon voting rights. It’s the same end goal as that of hampering immigration enforcement. It’s all about growing the Democrat base, except in both cases, Republicans are helping.

Democrats don’t get distracted with soap operas, nor are they satiated with vacuous talking points. They demand, pursue, and achieve results in red or blue states as so-called conservatives are distracted with impeachment or any and every other non-issue issue under the sun.

And speaking of impeachment, every Democrat is united in pursuit of it, even those representing districts carried by Trump. Yet Republican senators and governors, even from the reddest states, refuse to pursue a conservative agenda. GOP leadership in the House and the Senate, along with President Trump, are supporting a budget bill that passed with almost every House Democrat vote. They are pushing Pelosi’s spending priorities the very week she is impeaching Trump.

Is there truly a single red state in the union so long as red is represented by the Republican Party? Well, so long as Republicans continue to support “criminal justice reform” and open borders, Democrats will get their majority by hook or by crook.


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