A Harris County judge released a murder suspect on a pretrial bond Thursday, after the man requested a bail reduction, saying he feared that COVID-19 would strike the county lockup and “spread like wildfire.”
David Cruz, 29, was detained in connection with his friend’s death because he couldn’t afford a $60,000 bond. He asked Judge DaSean Jones to lower his bond to $30,000 and impose electronic monitoring and pretrial supervision. His lawyer stated in court documents Monday that COVID-19 “is certainly going to strike the Harris County jail population and spread like wildfire among inmates.” If Cruz were released, the lawyer said, Cruz would live with his parents and work as an estimator at the family’s lamination business.
Cruz’s lawyer, David Cunningham, declined to comment.
Joe Gamaldi, of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, called the ruling “completely irresponsible and ridiculous.”
“Certainly we understand the risk of anyone catching COVID-19, however we have to balance these decisions about letting a suspected murderer out on PR bonds with the risk that poses to the public and whether or not this person is going to show up to court,” Gamaldi said. “This is someone who is facing a murder charge and the only thing that is guaranteeing his appearance in court is a signature on a piece of paper — what happens if this person signs a PR bond and takes off for Mexico?”
Jones, who presides in the 180th district court, has been at the forefront on bond reform among the felony judges. He declined to speak about the particulars of the Cruz case, but said the friction over such bond rulings stems from the fact that most people don’t understand that poverty is not a lawful reason to keep people locked up. It’s not his job to presume by default that defendants are guilty and should be detained, he said.
The judge mentioned the 8th Amendment prohibition against excessive bail and fines and cruel and unusual punishments. He said you can’t keep someone “an eternity,” citing a portion of the Texas constitution that states says you can hold someone with a criminal history for 60 days without bond, but then you must set a bond.
“They don’t realize that the elements that we’re supposed to look at do not include the person being poor,” he said. “No judge should be using jail as a punitive effort before a person has plead or been found guilty.”
Investigators said at the time of Cruz’s arrest in August that the defendant said he accidentally killed his friend. Cruz faces a first-degree felony murder in the fatal shooting of Christian Tristan in southeast Houston. Cruz had told three family members he accidentally shot his 27-year-old friend and then tossed the gun over a bridge on Navigation, according to police.
Cruz has a prior felony conviction for failing to stop and render aid in a 2011 hit and run.
*story by Houston Chronicle