04/04/2020
Published this on Linkedin.com today.
By John Cucci, Jr.
April 2020
I just filed my second Habeas Corpus Application in Harris County (Houston), Texas. I am an attorney in Houston, Texas. The death toll and incidence of the Covid-19 Corona Virus is on the “upward trajectory” at the moment, and most people in this huge city, are worried, if not scarred or freaking-out.
Some are more scarred than others. If you are in a local jail, or other confined space, with lots of humans, you are scarred. The jail is scary on it’s own. What’s worse, is, if you are there because you are poor, accused, and presumed innocent, and can not afford the Bond which was set. The issue of Bail, and the unfair manner it applies to minorities, has been addressed and ameliorated, in the past two years. However, all the previous improvements to the Bail laws, did not consider, or negotiate the question of a pandemic, which blankets us at this moment in history.
There are now three inmates at the Harris County jail, that are positive for the Corona Virus. More is coming, and those in the jail are scarred. Helpless. Most of the men and women in the jail, are there awaiting trial or a probation hearing. For those who are accused, and presumed innocent, their pre-trial detention, may become a DEATH SENTENCE. For real!
After talking to a few inmates, and their families and friends, I knew it was time to take real action as a lawyer. It was time to sit and write. Time for a Habeas Corpus. The legal instrument once used to free civil rights protesters, who were arrested or detained by Police who resisted racial equality. This instrument demands that the Sheriff, “Produce the Body” of the detained person, and show why and how he or she is detained, and proof of it being lawful.
The Fifth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals has written the rule requiring that an Accused, Pre-Trial should be held under the least restrictive conditions. “The presumptively innocent status of pretrial detainees requires that their conditions of confinement be examined with closer scrutiny than may be warranted when convicted inmates are involved. Pretrial detainees should be held under the least restrictive means necessary to insure their presence at trial [Taylor v. Sterrett, 532 F.2d 462, 470 n.11 (5th Cir. [Tex.] 1976)].
So I have filed to obtain the Release of my client who is charged with a non-violent crime. I am seeking his release with a lower bond and any reasonable conditions. All in the effort to protect my client, and hopefully others, from catching the Virus, and suffering or dying, as an accused.
While the release of anyone who is facing criminal charges requires a balance to be struck, between public safety, and the Constitutional rights of the accused. The real threat of a debilitating virus and a 15% chance of death, tips the justice scales in a new and complicated manner. I do not think everyone should be put back on the streets. However, I do think that there must be a significant consideration of the threat of the Covid-19, when assessing the pre-trial imprisonment of an accused in the United States of America.
