DALLAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Dallas police chief Eddie Garcia responded in frustration last October to the murder of two healthcare workers at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. “In my opinion, this is a failure of our criminal justice system,” he said at the time.That tragedy has helped inspire at least half a dozen bills now before the state legislature.
The suspect, Nestor Hernandez, was paroled with an ankle monitor six years into an eight-year sentence for a violent robbery. State records show he was caught tampering with the monitor but was again released. “He was still wearing that monitor when he came here in October for the birth of his child,” Governor Greg Abbott said. “According to police, he flew into a jealous rage, attacked the baby’s mother, and killed a nurse and social worker with a gun he’d smuggled in.”
In a joint report commissioned by Gov. Abbott in response to the shooting, the Texas Department of Criminal Justic and Bureau of Pardons and Paroles recommended the legislature make cutting off an ankle monitor a crime rather than the administrative violation it currently is. And last month, Dallas police told the city council they were working with lawmakers on bills that would:
- Prohibit the eligibility of violent convicted offenders for electronic monitoring patrol.
- Create a felony offense for removing an ankle monitor with the punishment requiring an offender to complete their original sentence.
“Ankle monitors on violent criminals are useless,” Chief Garcia said last year. “So, that’s what my biggest concern is. Yes, everyone gets an opportunity at parole. But if you think a violent criminal needs an ankle monitor than that violent criminal should still be in custody.
Lawmakers from both parties have already filed matching bills in the House and Senate that would make it a felony to tamper with an ankle monitor. Now, Texas Rep. Rafael Anchia of Dallas says he will stand along Chief Garcia to announce his plan to increase public safety in response to the methodist shooting, saving further details for the press conference.
