"Battle Over Bail"

INVESTIGATIVE CATEGORY

WOAI-TV
02/22/2022

Our story revealed how a bail organization has been working with county officials to bond out repeat and habitual offenders with violent histories. The Sheriff’s Office said it was not keeping a list of defendants bonded out by the group so there was no way to examine the practice through an open records request.

I was able to obtain a list through a county source and I had to check the background of each defendant through online county court records, but I also went to the courthouse in person and pulled indictments and police reports to learn details of past crimes. I also analyzed political contributions made by the group to county officials who were helping the group bail out defendants.

Our audience, local leaders and legislators were unaware of how these bailouts were happening, what kind of offenders were being released and how many were being bonded out. The legislature has now required counties to keep a list of defendants bonded out by bail organizations and to register the groups, just like bail bond companies are registered. After our story aired the bail organization in our report reduced the number of defendants it was bonding out, started checking their backgrounds more thoroughly and the Chief Public Defender supporting the group resigned from office.

In November of 2022 I followed up my report with a story showing how defendants bonded out by the bail organization were paid to canvass for political candidates who support the organization.

In January of 2023 I followed up with a report showing the money used to bond out defendants in San Antonio comes from wealthy donors and celebrities and is part of a bail reform effort in many cities.

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Submitted by Jaie Avila.