In the News

In 2017, 30 defendants were granted bond for violating a protective order. Last year, that number rose to 420.

“Both defendants hoped that, through their false statements, they would secure lucrative monetary settlements from the owner, driver and insurer of the tractor-trailer.”

Repeat violent offender Shandon Donaldson and an accomplice murdered a 23-year-old man in a nightclub while Donaldson was free from jail on six felony bonds. Despite violating his bond conditions, Harris County Judge Jason Luong lowered bond for the murder charge to $65,000.

Murder suspect Daniel Chacon—whose decade-plus criminal record includes multiple assault charges—has been accused of kidnapping and murdering Maira Gutierrez, his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his baby.

One day before he was convicted by a jury for aggravated sexual assault of a child, a Beaumont man fled to Mexico while out on bail.

Data provided by Precinct 4 shows that of the 434 cases dismissed, 127 are felony charges, including 44 domestic violence-related assaults.

After sitting in jail for three years, a Harris County judge reduced bail for a capital murder defendant who was facing up to 30 years in prison. Just three months after posting the lowered bond, that defendant has been accused of murder—again.

According to court documents, Rene Alfredo Alvarado Lopez was out on bond for a previous DWI charge when he allegedly committed a hit-and-run under the influence, killing a two-year-old boy in Houston.

In the past two years, 182 Houstonians have allegedly been killed at the hands of repeat violent offenders free from jail on multiple felony or personal recognizance bonds. Only 20 of the accused murderers have been convicted.

“He should never have been a judge regrettably, should never have been a judge calling balls and strikes in a system that is supposed to be equal and fair for everyone.”