The Bail Post
What do we know about criminal justice reforms or bail reform? How do we evaluate whether reforms are helping or making the situation worse? How can we take politics out of criminal justice and focus on public safety? The Bail Post seeks to be a place where legislators and the public can educate themselves on a host of criminal justice/bail reform issues. With various attempts at criminal justice reform from New York to Texas to California, many people are confused as to what is working and what is not. With the passage of time, more and more data is coming to light over what successful reform looks like and what reforms have been found to not be working. The rise in violent crime across the country has been startling and law makers and the public alike are desperate to find legislation that is effective. Some might ask whether some of the reforms making the situation worse? The Bail Post is an on-going discussion that seeks to cut to the core to provide education on the various issues raised and to highlight what successful criminal justice reform looks like and what measures have been disastrous. Join us and educate yourself about the best practices that jurisdictions must implement to keep their communities safe, while ensuring fairness to defendants. As a someone said recently "Public safety is the foundation of a society. Without public safety we do not have a society."
If you would like to listen other episodes of The Bail Post you can find a subject matter index of the different episodes at- https://pbtx.blogspot.com/p/subject-index-to-bail-post-podcasts.html.
The host is Ken W. Good; an attorney in Tyler, Texas who has been licensed for over 30 years. He has argued cases before the Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Mr. Good has written a book on bail called "Goods On Bail." He has also has had numerous papers published on Criminal Justice Reform issues. Mr. Good is a board member of PBT and serves on the legislative committee. Mr. Good is married and has two daughters.
The Bail Post
Episode No. 78- ODonnell v. Harris County- The Case That Will Not Die
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On October 5, 2026, the Honorable Judge Lee Rosenthal issued an memorandum opinion in the ODonnell case. The court was ruling on a motion to dismiss the consent decree that was filed by 4 of the 16 misdemeanor judges.
By way of history, the judges had been arguing for sometime that the consent decree did not comply with SB 6 and more recently did not comply with SB 9 passed by the Texas Legislature in the most recent Texas Legislative Session. Additionally, since the consent decree/settlement agreement was entered, all of the substantive rulings made by the trial court in ODonnell had been reversed by the 5th Circuit. Further, in the Daves II en banc opinion issued by the 5th Circuit, the court of appeals specifically stated that both Daves and ODonnell should never have been adjudicated in federal court.
The trial court issued her opinion because the 5th Circuit issued a writ of mandamus ordering Judge Rosenthal to rule on the motion to dismiss based upon Younger Abstention "expeditiously" well before the upcoming election in November. Also, the court of appeals ordered Judge Rosenthal to follow the Daves II opinion. During the hearing on September 22, 2026, Judge Rosenthal stated multiple times that the court of appeals had ordered her to abstain.
Nevertheless, on October 5, 2026, the trial court denied the motion to dismiss and did not follow the Daves II opinion. The four judges have already filed a notice of appeal. Join us on this episode of The Bail Post as we discuss the history of this case and address the court's ruling.
If you would like to see the trial court's memorandum opinion you can see it at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r-B2gHhNpJxMDHdVE-2FLPDq15jbz2xd/view?usp=sharing