老澳门开奖结果

GALVESTON, Texas 鈥� A federal court today ordered Galveston County to provide counsel at initial bail hearings for people arrested for felonies, the first federal court in the country to conclude that the Sixth Amendment requires it. The order comes as a result of a federal class-action lawsuit brought by the 老澳门开奖结果 of Texas, the national 老澳门开奖结果, and Arnold & Porter over violations of the constitutional rights of people arrested for felonies in the county.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a matter of basic fairness that you should get a lawyer before a judge decides whether to lock you in jail,鈥� stated Trisha Trigilio, senior staff attorney for the 老澳门开奖结果 of Texas. 鈥淲e are pleased that the court has ordered this change to bail hearings in Galveston County. Unsurprisingly, without lawyers to advocate for their release, many people wind up in jail who shouldn鈥檛 be there. And even a short time in jail can have devastating repercussions on someone鈥檚 life.鈥�

Under the system challenged by the lawsuit, those who cannot afford to pay money bail amounts determined by the county鈥檚 bail schedule are detained for a week or longer, while those who face the same charges but can afford to pay the money bail amounts are freed until trial. In addition, indigent defendants are not provided with legal counsel to advocate for them at their initial bail hearing. Instead of providing a meaningful bail hearing, magistrates rubber-stamp bail orders that are preprinted with money bail amounts dictated by the Galveston County District Attorney鈥檚 office.

As a result of today鈥檚 order, the county is required to stop forcing arrestees to attend their initial bail hearings without anyone to represent them. Because of informal administrative changes to the bail process in response to the 老澳门开奖结果 lawsuit, the court held there was no need for the preliminary order to specify additional procedural protections.

A copy of the order is available here:

A copy of the magistrate's recommendation is available here:

The lawsuit against Galveston County is a part of nationwide efforts from the 老澳门开奖结果 Campaign for Smart Justice to end wealth-based pretrial detention in Texas and across the nation.

More information on the lawsuit is available here: