CENTRAL TEXAS (KXXV) — Texas voters will decide this fall whether to give judges more power to keep potentially dangerous criminal defendants locked up without bail through a proposed constitutional amendment.
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Proposition 3, if passed, would allow judges to deny bail in cases involving murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, robbery, sexual assault or human trafficking if prosecutors can establish that a defendant is a flight risk or poses a real danger to the community.
The measure has drawn support from victims' advocates who say hundreds of Texans have been killed by criminals who should have been locked up at the time of their crimes.
"My fiancé was murdered in 2019," said Jessica Gaehring of Texas Crime Victims United. "The more people I met, the more dysfunctional I realized the criminal justice system is."
Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a series of bail reform bills and urged voters to approve Proposition 3. He was joined by families of people murdered by individuals with long criminal histories.
"Hundreds of Texans have been murdered by violent criminals who have previously been arrested and released on easy bail," Abbott said.
The cases include Randy Lewis, who stabbed and killed 80-year-old Rosalee Cook while he was out on bail, and Austin Collette, who had already pleaded guilty to murder but was out on bail when he killed his girlfriend and himself.
"When we have questioned judges, the answers that we have gotten most of the time is that the judges are following the law, they're following what they have to do," Gaehring said.
Under Proposition 3, prosecutors could go before a judge to establish that a criminal defendant is a flight risk or poses a real danger to the community. The judge could then deny any bond, though defense lawyers could try to prove otherwise. The judge's finding could be appealed, but the change would allow dangerous defendants to be kept locked up.
However, civil rights groups oppose the measure.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas told The Texas Tribune that "all Texans should be worried about an attack on their right to be free before trial."
"Pretrial detention tears families apart, drains public resources and punishes people who haven't been convicted of anything," the ACLU said.
Other opponents include the Texas Civil Rights Project and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
Gaehring said she does not want suspects routinely locked up while they wait for trial, but believes judges need better tools to protect the public from truly dangerous individuals.
"I hate that public safety has become political but listen to the facts. People have already died. We're trying to save lives here," Gaehring said.
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