Judge’s criminal justice reform group becomes commission
The county judge’s criminal justice reform task force has become a criminal justice reform commission with the backing of the Hays County Commissioners Court.
The discussion at commissioners court Tuesday morning began with an agenda item put forth by Precinct 3 Commissioner Lon Shell to formalize the rules and voting membership of the county’s existing Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee and rename it as a commission, based on naming convention changes made last week at commissioners court. However, some members of the public viewed Shell’s proposed action as an attempt to quash Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra’s criminal justice reform task force.
Hays County resident David Crowley called the older committee “a defunct group.” Wimberley resident Tara Racine called Becerra’s task force “a new, unified effort” that seeks financial responsibility and new solutions.
“There needs to be a new direction for our criminal justice system,” she said. “And that’s exactly what’s happening with this task force.”
San Marcos resident Jordan Buckley read aloud from a letter to the editor published Sunday in the Daily Record that supported Becerra’s task force over the previously existing committee. Attorney Chevo Pastrano’s letter read in part, “I fully understand it’s easier to talk than to act — and sometimes a recommendation that looks good on paper can be rendered ineffective if key decision makers fail to agree on how the recommendations should be enacted. Accordingly, why on earth would we revive a defunct committee that did not carry the momentum forward — especially when a new and energized task force has already met and is doing the work the committee failed to do?”
“There seems to be confusion that I am proposing that we change anything,” Shell said. “I am proposing that we make it clear and formalize it so that it is effective.”
Shell noted that there are only a few members of Becerra’s task force that are not on the commission and that he saw no conflict or real difference between the two.
“I think what we’re trying to do is create a formalized process to make sure that all the people who should be involved are involved,” he said.
Becerra said that the similarities between the two bodies were why a conversation about them was necessary.
“To bring something back that wasn’t doing anything … does look wasteful,” he said.
Becerra read the list of people on his criminal justice reform task force to see if the commissioners had any problems with anyone on the list. The task force members include the Kyle police chief, the county district clerk, Sheriff Gary Cutler, Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 Andy Cable, former chief prosecutor Gary Cobb, Precinct 3 Constable Ray Helm, District Judge Bill Henry, an immigration attorney, representatives from the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center and the county’s resolution center, District Attorney Wes Mau, District Judge Gary Steel, representatives from the adult supervision and juvenile supervision departments, defense representative Pastrano (author of the letter to the editor Buckley read), County Court at Law 3 Judge Tacie Zelhart, Justices of the Peace Beth Smith and Maggie Moreno, Becerra’s chief of staff Alex Villalobos and Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe, “who has taken up the invitation I sent to all of you,” Becerra told the commissioners.
Becerra said he wanted to clarify and be transparent to overcome any perception that the task force is a “shady group meeting in a dark room smoking cigars.”
“Is there someone on there that you couldn’t buy in on?” he asked the commissioners. “... The more time that goes on, the more that gets done with this task force. And we weren’t going to sit idle while ideas are talked about. We’re going to keep moving, because there’s much to be done and it’s years overdue.”
‘We had a good start’
Becerra suggested that the commissioners could make some adjustments to the task force and move forward with it instead of resurrecting the old committee – an idea that Ingalsbe bolstered.
“I appreciate your efforts. I appreciate your enthusiasm,” she told Becerra. “The old committee – and I was a part of that – we had a good start. Things were implemented that made a difference. But unfortunately, we went stale for a while. By you creating, reviving, this group has really meant a lot.”
Ingalsbe then said she would be willing to give up her seat on the task force for Shell, and that she would be willing to vote on the task force moving forward as a commission.
“I think you’ve come up with a real good group,” she said.
“I would have no problem turning the task force into a commission that represents the court … if that’s what it takes,” Becerra said. “We’re going to keep going because it’s necessary. It’s essential.”
“Can we have some rules and bylaws?” Shell asked. Becerra said yes.
“I’m results oriented. I have no problem with anything you guys are saying,” Becerra said. “I’m grateful for your efforts and your conversation.”
Shell amended his proposed bylaws to make a motion to convert the current judge’s task force into the Hays County Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission and to adopt bylaws.
“These bylaws are going to attempt to tell us who these people are,” he said.
The commissioners worked through several changes to the voting membership, including broadening some of the positions and doing away with the immigration attorney and former chief prosecutor’s positions as voting members. Villalobos objected to the elimination of those two positions, but Shell said those issues could be handled by committees formed by the new commission.
When the time came for the commissioners to choose two representatives to the newly-christened criminal justice body, Shell and Ingalsbe were selected. The bylaws Shell wrote stipulated that if the county judge did not get chosen as a representative, his chief of staff would become a voting member of the commission. Ingalsbe offered to step aside to give Becerra a place on the commission, but Becerra said he had confidence in Villalobos’ abilities and knowledge of the subject matter.
A new voting membership
Where the major difference in membership arose was the broadening of some membership categories and the elimination of two members of the task force: Anita Gupta, seasoned staff attorney with Immigrant Legal Resource Center, and Gary Cobb, a former chief prosecutor. The new commission’s voting membership will consist of representatives chosen by the following agencies and organizations: Hays County Sheriff’s Office (both a law enforcement and a corrections representative), District Court, County Courts-at-Law, District Attorney, Community Supervision and Corrections Department (adult probation), District Clerk, County Clerk, Justices of the Peace, Constables, Information Technology, Juvenile Probation, Municipal Judges, the Hays County Bar Association, the local police departments (one representative for the collective group of departments operating in Hays County), Hill Country MHDD Center, the Central Texas Dispute Resolution Center, and one representative selected from social services agencies operating in Hays County (the task force had included a representative from the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center). In addition, Countywide Operations Criminal Justice Analyst Samantha Jones was named to the commission as a voting member, bringing the total number of voting representatives to 22, the county press release said.
“The Commission will, as needed, draw on additional subject matter experts within the county to serve on committees that will focus on specific issues and initiatives and report to the full Commission for consideration of recommendations,” the county press release said. “Details about meeting dates and times will be forthcoming.
During Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting, Villalobos voiced his opposition to the exclusion of Cobb -- who has experience in indigent defense -- and Gupta, who has experience with immigration law.
“If we don’t address it now, we’re taking that resource away from this commission,” he said of the two positions.
Shell suggested that the commission could have a committee that deals with indigent defense.
Local grassroots group Mano Amiga echoed Villalobos’ concerns about the elimination of Cobb and Gupta from the commission, calling the move an attempt to water down the diversity of the commission.
“Republican commissioners booted Anita Gupta, seasoned staff attorney with Immigrant Legal Resource Center, as well as Gary Cobb, former chief prosecutor for Travis County, from their roles as voting members of county efforts to meaningfully tackle reform,” a statement from Mano Amiga read. “Instead, Commissioner Lon Shell pushed to endow his former intern [Jones, the criminal justice analyst], a recent Texas State undergraduate, with the voting powers he dared to strip away from these highly reputable legal experts.”
Mano Amiga is also assembling a coalition of Hays County-based businesses and organizations called the Public Defender’s Alliance. The group supports the creation of a public defender’s office in Hays County.
“A Public Defender’s Office would be an alternative to overworked court-appointed attorneys, allowing low-income defendants to receive thorough support that goes beyond just showing up at the sentencing hearing, while also reducing the amount of people in the overcrowded Hays County Jail,” a Mano Amiga statement reads.
Providing a public defender’s office is one of the pretrial services strategies the county judge’s task force had been looking at.
The Public Defenders Alliance will be holding its first event at Splash Corworking on April 17.