Fresh off the defeat of two of his legislative priorities on Sunday night when Democrats abandoned the Texas House to block a sweeping elections bill,.
Texas House and Senate likely headed to closed-door negotiations over bail reform By Capital Tonight Staff Austin PUBLISHED 10:15 AM CT May. 21, 2021 PUBLISHED 10:15 AM CDT May. 21, 2021
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AUSTIN, Texas Bail reform was billed as a top priority for Gov. Abbott this legislative session. But lawmakers can t seem to come to an agreement on what that should look like. Since the measures are so far apart, it ll likely lead to closed-door negotiations to work out a compromise.
At stake is reforming how and whether criminal defendants get out of jail while awaiting trial. The Senate measure would let fewer criminal defendants out before trial unless they can post cash bonds. But two Texas counties have gotten into legal trouble in the past for relying too heavily on cash bonds.
Octavia Boyd sits in her backyard, wiping tears and scrolling through pictures and videos from her mother’s happiest times.
There’s one of 68-year-old Rose Davis from not long ago, sliding across her carpeted living room floor dancing to R&B. In another, she’s showing off a fashionable Sunday church hat. And in a throwback, Davis is dressed in a white starched uniform decades ago, carrying a medicine tray at one of several Central Texas hospitals and nursing homes where she spent her 40-plus year nursing career.
“She was a beautiful person,” Boyd said, “always laughing, always telling jokes.”
Damon Allen Act reaches house floor, attorney says one provision is badly needed
A bill named for slain Trooper Damon Allen would require magistrates to check criminal histories before setting bond. Author: Andrew Moore Updated: 10:13 PM CDT May 2, 2021
TEXAS, USA Texas State Trooper Damon Allen was shot and killed by DaBrett Black on Thanksgiving 2017 during a regular traffic stop. Black shot Allen with a long gun before he sped away.
Just five months before, Black had been arrested after ramming his vehicle into a sheriff deputy s car during a chase but got out on bail. Two years before, in 2015, Black beat a Smith County Deputy and attempted to take his gun. He was arrested and charged with a felony that was later reduced to a misdemeanor.