Photo: iStock Editorial
Mayor John Whitmire is calling out the issue of releasing accused murderers on bond in Harris County, saying at a recent city council meeting that at least 900 accused killers are currently walking the city streets right now on bond.
Many of those bonds are coming out of the 248th District Court, where Judge Hilary Unger has found herself at the center of high-profile cases thanks to her repeated release of violent criminals on bond.
Both activists and law enforcement have pointed to this as one of the primary reasons for Houston and Harris County’s rising crime problem. Doug Griffith with the Houston Police Officers Union said, "These are people on bond for murder. Once you kill someone, there’s nothing left for you out there. You’re either going to commit more crimes, or you’re going to end up in prison, or dead."
He went on to say that many of these violent criminals shouldn’t be getting these bonds at all. He said, "In 90% of these cases, the people that are getting bonds are already on bond for something else. How is it that we’re not revoking the first bond?"
Griffith then blasted activist judges like Hilary Unger and said, "There’s zero accountability for judges. They have 100% immunity to do whatever they want." He added that we need to find a way to make sure violent criminals are being put in jail where they belong and aren’t allowed to continue victimizing the community.