The cases stacked up in the local state District Courts are a sight to behold

I recently saw a list of accused felons that made me want to go buy another gun. Make it two. Maybe three. Throw in a flame thrower. To what list am I referring? The list of 1,344 felony inmates stacked up in the 11 state District Courts housed in the Hidalgo County Courthouse. Because if there is that much criminal dysfunction in this county, a lot of it fueled more by alcohol than drugs, how much more is undetected or yet to come?

The list is already two months behind, so I don’t yet know what the current count is, but as of early September 2022, the number of felony cases in the state District Courts waiting to be adjudicated breaks down like this: 92nd District Court: 143. 93rd District Court: 147. 139th District Court: 85. 206th District Court: 124. 275th District Court: 135. 332nd District Court: 116. 370th District Court: 106. 389th District Court: 138. 398th District Court: 146. 430th District: 156. 464th District Court: 48. A lot of these felony cases, to make matters worse, date back to 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.

The charges are all across the map, none of them pretty: aggravated sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated robbery, multiple three-or-more DWIs, attempter murder, aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon, multiple burglaries of habitations and buildings, credit card or debit card abuse, harassment of public servant and evading arrest, abandoned endangerment of a child, assaulting a peace officer, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, and on and on and on it goes like endless re-runs of Dragnet, the old TV show.

It’s going to take some digging to find out why so many of these cases are stuck in limbo. Also, with some of these multiple DWI cases that are three, four, five years old, which include a lot of repeat offenders, who is making money on the breathalyzer devices, and why aren’t these elected judges moving these cases through the court systems quicker?

I mean, doesn’t there come a point when the court puts a stop to a motion for another delay?

Sure, COVID-19, muddied up the waters, delayed felony cases, misdemeanors, too, but come on, clearly at some level, the state District Courts aren’t operating the way one would think they should. You know, that whole right to a public trial without unnecessary delay business found in the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Plus, looking at all of the accused felons still awaiting trial, still locked up in the county jail system, how much is that costing taxpayers?

When I would cover a trial in a state District Court, the case being tried would often take a recess so the long line of prisoners dressed in their orange county jail jump suits would be led into the courtroom. When their name was called, they would stand, the judge would usually ask them a question or two, to which their attorney, usually court-appointed, would respond, and then a future date would be set for their next appearance. Seldom did it seem any definitive action was taken. Just one delay after another.

Now, I have a list of felony cases that spells it all out, which like I already mentioned, includes many alleged violent cases in state District Courts that date back to 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

This editorial is just the start to what promises to be a long story about exactly why justice in Hidalgo County’s state District Courts looks like it’s running at half speed. Why aren’t the judges, some of them, moving along the cases at a faster clip?

The county courts are another story. Like the state District Courts, some courts are clearly working, while a few look as though they’re on extended vacay.