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  • Nevada Counties Experiment With Bail Bond Program

    Nevada Counties Experiment With Bail Bond Program

    When Susan Wrigley was arrested in November, she became one of the first persons to experience a pilot program in Nevada.

    Some Nevada counties are modifying the way they are releasing inmates and moving them back into the community. Despite being 7-hours away from Las Vegas, Clark County bail, bond agencies are keeping a close eye on the developments in Reno.

    The courts in Washoe County are running a pilot program which began on November 1 which does away with the spontaneous bail prisoners receive when they’re processed into jail.

    Previously, the system linked a specific bail amount to a particular charge. Under the planned changes courts will have administrative personnel inside the jail who will assess each inmate as soon as they’re booked.

    The plan is to streamline the procedure and identify each arrestee’s risk of failing to appear in court for a scheduled hearing and for committing a subsequent offense.

    The staff uses a series of questions to assess the detainee.

    Heather Condon, Pretrial Services Manager at the Second Judicial District Court, says the questions look at what the defendant has done in the past, is the defendant dealing drugs or have alcohol issues and what are the chances of the accused appearing in court or re-offending.

    Condon states her staff does a pretrial risk assessment and gets the documentation to a judge within one working day. The judge then decides on the defendant’s bail, and they are either released on their own recognizance or given monetary bail.

    “Each is assessed with the same tool,” Condon said.

    The platform is seeing some growing pains. Wrigley found out first hand. She was detained only 48-hours after the new program went into place. Law enforcement authorities claimed Wrigley fought with her mother with whom Wrigley lives. Wrigley was arrested, handcuffed and processed into the jail on a domestic battery charge.

    “I kept asking, ‘Do I have bail, do I have bail?”

    Previously the jail would have automatically set Wrigley’s bail at $7,000. Now with the new program, she was stuck behind bars on a $15,000 cash-only bail. Wrigley couldn’t afford the bail and was held for ten days.

    Charles Jones, another defendant, charged with domestic battery in a case separate from Wrigley’s, was given a $5,000 cash bail.

    Why the difference?

    The two cases are different and defendants have different backgrounds. Wrigley had a higher bond as her mother has Alzheimer’s and is a vulnerable person; a status which enhanced the domestic violence charge.

    The courts admit to some kinks in the new program. Bail previously was set within a few hours of an arrestee being booked into jail. The new system is slower which leaves inmates to wait in jail longer. That extended stay translates into a cost to taxpayers of $110 a day per inmate.

    “It’s not perfect,” Condon said.

    Adam Plumer, spokesperson for 24/7 Bail Bonds in Las Vegas said deputies have told him the Washoe County jail is overcrowded because of the delays and inmates are forced to sleep in the hallways.

    The courts are trying to budget more staff, so the congestion and delays are eased. Another change is the requirement for judges to review the arrestee’s Pretrial Risk Assessment documentation twice.

  • What’s the Difference Between a Refugee and an Immigrant?

    What’s the Difference Between a Refugee and an Immigrant?

    Money!!

    Steal a million here or there and come to America.

    That seems to be the latest twist in immigrant problems that American authorities are trying to unwind.

    Affluent politicians and businessmen believed to be engaged in corruption back home are running to a haven where their wealth and influence often keeps them from being arrested.

    Entering America various of visas, including one meant to encouragement investment, some apply for asylum. The frequently popular target for persons seeking to evade criminal charges is not a banana republic in South America.

    It’s Nevada, USA.

    Officials running from prosecution in Colombia, China, South Korea, Bolivia, and Panama are seeking asylum in Nevada as they take advantage of slack enforcement of American laws and yawning chasms in immigration and economic controls. Most have hidden their assets and real estate by building trusts and limited liability companies in family members’ names.

    United States officials routinely ignore vetting visa applicants. One of the more prominent instances revolves around a recent Panamanian president who was permitted to enter America just hours after his nation’s Supreme Court initiated an inquiry into charges he had pilfered $50 million from his government’s school meal plan.

    On the U.S. State Department’s radar since 2009, Ricardo Martinelli displayed the “dark side” of his connections to corruption.

    After Martinelli left office in 2014, Panamanian special prosecutors investigated the school lunch program. Tipped off just before the Panama Supreme Court announced a formal probe, Martinelli took a private jet to Guatemala City. Martinelli then entered America on a guest visa and within weeks was living luxuriously as he split his time between an extravagant condominium on Miami’s Brickell Avenue and a Las Vegas condo built by The Stark Team.

    The American State Department refused to comment on Martinelli’s case claiming visa documents are private.

    Fengxian Hu was a Chinese fugitive. A former radio broadcaster, Hu led the Chinese state-owned broadcasting company that had a joint deal with Pepsi to distribute the soft drinks in Sichuan province. In 2002, Pepsi accused Hu of looking the company and using funds to buy fancy cars when he wasn’t going on top-tier European vacations.

    Despite this, America gave Hu a visa that permitted him to fly regularly to Las Vegas here he enjoyed VIP status at the MGM Casino.

    Hu applied for a green card through his wife, an American citizen from New York, but American immigration authorities denied Hu’s request.  Undeterred, Hu applied for asylum.

    During all of this, Hu also got into difficulties in America. He dropped millions in a Las Vegas casino and refused to cover a $12 million gambling debt.  Taken to court in 2012, Hu pleaded not guilty to aggravated felony which gets immigrants deported. However, Hu’s pending asylum case was pending so Hu wasn’t going anywhere.

    In 2015, a U.S. Government Accountability Office report on the investigation into Hu said it was “difficult” for immigration authorities to find the true source of Hu’s funds since he had a distinct reason to lie about his financial history on his application.

    “It’s very easy to become lost in the noise if you’re a bad guy,” said Seto Bagdoyan, the co-author of the GAO report.

  • Fifteen people arrested at Heathrow expansion protest

    Fifteen people arrested at Heathrow expansion protest

    Fifteen people have been arrested after campaigners against airport expansion staged a protest near Heathrow Airport.

    A small group of people ran on to the M4 spur road and lay down in front of oncoming traffic, causing temporary disruption.

    Other were arrested on suspicion of public order offences.

    This expansion is being driven by the very rich at the expense of some of the poorest people in the world.RisingUp! campaign group spokesperson

    A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “A planned protest is ongoing at Heathrow Airport on Saturday.

    “A proportionate policing plan is in place.

    Fifteen people arrested at Heathrow expansion protest
    Fifteen people arrested at Heathrow expansion protest Credit: PA

    “There have been 15 arrests for obstructing the highway and public order offences. Officers remain on scene.”

    As some people took arrestable action, other campaigners gathered on the flyover to chant “No ifs, no buts, no third runway” and “No more runways”.

    Zac Goldsmith with his mother Lady Annabel Goldsmith
    Zac Goldsmith with his mother Lady Annabel Goldsmith, at a rally on Richmond Green, against the Heathrow expansion. Credit: Andrew Parsons / i-Images/Andrew Parsons / i-Images

    People of all ages were present to take part in the demonstration on Saturday which was organised by campaign group RisingUp!.

    Placards reading “Heathrow expansion will destroy thousands of homes” and “Protect the planet, no more runways”, were raised high as locals gathered in the cold to rally against airport expansion.

    A spokesman for the group said: “The Government’s decisions to expand Heathrow, despite mass opposition from local residents and the fact that doing so is incompatible with the UK’s own laws on climate change, leaves us with no morally acceptable option but to resist.

    “Only 15 per cent of the British public is responsible for 70 per cent of international flights taken in the UK and Heathrow largely serves international passengers who have a mean income of £57,000 per year.

    “This expansion is being driven by the very rich at the expense of some of the poorest people in the world.”

    A spokeswoman for Heathrow said the airport’s expansion did not mean a choice between delivering for the economy and protecting the environment.

    She added: “Independent analysis by the Airports Commission has found that building and operating an additional runway at Heathrow is compatible with the UK meeting its long-term climate change reduction targets.

    “The Independent Committee on Climate Change has also shown that a 60 per cent growth in passenger numbers in the United Kingdom can be achieved within the UK’s Climate Change Targets.”

    Heathrow protest
    Protestors from campaign group RisingUp! lock themselves together as they block the east ramp at Heathrow Airport, in protest over the development of a third runway. Credit: PA/PA

    Neil Keveren, a resident of nearby Harmondsworth, said: “Democracy has failed us. Elected leaders have totally reversed the will of the people.

    “As a direct result, the quality of life and life expectancy of the population here will be shorter. This is against our human rights and must be defended.

    “Who is left to correct this injustice when our politicians will not? The answer is us – you and me.”

  • Bail-reform May Help Poor

    Bail-reform May Help Poor

    Tom Chudz had been enjoying his retirement as he drove his Airstream 190 around America.

    One night in New Mexico, while Tom slept, the local sheriff and his deputies came knocking

    Sniffing booze on Tom’s breath, the deputies arrested him believing he had been driving and drinking. Someone had plowed into a Toyota just down the road at a truck stop and law enforcement just “knew” it had to be Tom. Even though they hadn’t seen Tom driving, they processed him into Metro Detention Center in Albuquerque.

    Tom’s cash, billfold and credit cards were back in the trailer. He couldn’t post bond, so he stayed in jail for 33 days.

    “I didn’t have any option but to remain there,” Chudz recently told reporters. Despite the drunk driving charges being eventually dropped, Chudz hasn’t had it easy since getting out.

    His Airstream was taken — with everything in it — when he couldn’t pay the impound costs. For the next three months, Chudz stayed in homeless programs around Albuquerque.

    Accounts like these are motivating state legislators to rework state constitutions to change the application of bond for arrestees waiting for trial. In New Mexico, the law’s prototype won the backing of 87% of citizens in the latest voting.

    New Mexico joined numerous American jurisdictions starting to put risk-based practices of pre-trial detention into place. Pre-trial detention is almost universally seen as fairer and a more efficient option to conventional cash bail.

    Reformers are arguing that typical bond practices leave poor individuals locked up as their affluent counterparts are released. Frequently a judge sets bail based on the accusations a prisoner faces and doesn’t review the arrestee’s criminal past or economic ability to post bail.

    “It is not an honest way of holding persons,” said Leo Romero who chaired a committee chosen by the New Mexico Supreme Court to spearhead the state’s bail reform.

    Governmental numbers reveal in 2009 33 percent of felony arrestees in urban counties remain in jail since they can’t post collateral. The average cost of bond was $25K, and that charge is especially piercing for impoverished defendants.

    Since 2015, various governmental courts have decided the application of monetary bail for indigent persons is unconstitutional. In November 2016 San Francisco’s city attorney decided against defending the city’s bail arrangement facing an objection brought by Equal Justice Under Law.

    Recently many cities and states have decided to look at risk-based options to bond. For instance, if an amendment similar to New Mexico’s is approved in Nevada, judges will be forbidden from keeping low-risk detainees who can’t make bail if:

    • They present little menace or threat, and
    • They are apt to arrive for scheduled court dates

    Nevada may also adopt a rule proposed by Romero’s bail-reform group. If adopted, judges will be required to discharge low-level arrestees who have been accused of petty crimes and not detained within the prior twenty-four months.

    Courts are reviewing a risk-assessment application from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation.

    A computer based program scans the offender records, present charges and the defendant’s age to compute customized flight and risk scores to manage pre-trial decisions regarding release. The software is gaining favor with jurisdictions nationally and has been adopted by 29 cities and states including Charlotte, Arizona, New Jersey and Chicago.

    With risk scores in their hand, judges may release low or medium-risk defendants on their own recognizance. Six states — Nevada, Colorado, Hawaii, New Jersey, Vermont and West Virginia — also

  • Shailene Woodley Released From Jail After Protesting Dakota Access Pipeline

    Shailene Woodley Released From Jail After Protesting Dakota Access Pipeline

    On Monday, actress Shailene Woodley was arrested in Sioux County, North Dakota, following a peaceful protest of the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. She was released from Morton County Jail hours after she was taken into custody, E! News reports.

    The Dakota Access Pipeline is a $3.7 billion project aimed at creating a 1,172-mile pipe spanning four states, transferring 470,000 gallons of crude oil per day into South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. In the process of constructing it, the company will destroy the sacred burial sites of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North Dakota.

    The Divergent star was charged with criminal trespass and “engaging in a riot during a protest at a construction site that involved about 300 people,” which are both misdemeanors and punishable by up to 30 days in jail along with a $1,500 fine, Morton County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Rob Keller told the Associated Press. Shailene captured her entire arrest on Facebook Live.

    According to CNN, Shailene posted a $500 bond and was released yesterday.

    Of the incident, Shailene’s publicist told E! News, “She appreciates the outpouring of support, not only for her, but more importantly, for the continued fight against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

    About an hour before she was arrested, Shailene urged fans via Facebook Live to donate supplies to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their allies. The Red Warrior Camp’s address can be found here along with a list of supplies the protesters need.

  • Woman Suing Bail Bondsman Accused Of Raping Her

    Woman Suing Bail Bondsman Accused Of Raping Her

    A local woman is suing the Orange County bail bondsman accused of sexually assaulting her. The victim says bondsman Robert Burns threatened to revoke her bond, arrest her and take her to jail unless she had sex with him.

    The alleged victim announced the lawsuit late Monday morning. The suit, filed in Orange County, is not only against the accused bail bondsman; it also seeks damages from the bail bond agency that Robert Burns worked for.

    he victim’s attorney held a news conference to announce the suit against Burns and the Michael Snapp Bonding Agency. Her attorney says the agency should have paid closer attention to Burns’ communications with female clients in light of accusations of similar conduct in the past.

    The victim spoke to Eyewitness News, without revealing her identity, because she believes other potential victims might be out there and are too afraid to come forward.“Why would they do this to a woman? What do they have in their head to rape a woman? I mean … they got to be sick,” the victim said.Burns is facing criminal charges in the case.

    The sheriff’s office believes he lured the victim to his office and then told her husband to go get a car title for collateral or she would face arrest. While the woman’s husband was gone, Burns allegedly raped her.Burns is out on bond.

  • Yes, U.S. locks people up at a higher rate than any other country

    Yes, U.S. locks people up at a higher rate than any other country

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    “Many states can no longer afford to support public education, public benefits, public services without doing something about the exorbitant costs that mass incarceration have created.” — Bryan Stevenson

    Stevenson, the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, eloquently points out the cost of America’s “prison industrial complex.”

    It’s a fact that America holds less than 5% of the global population but has almost 25% of the planet’s total prison population. Crime is at historic lows, but the number of people behind bars is higher than decades ago.

    How does America’s rate of incarceration stack up to nations with similar criminal justice systems such as the UK?

    One-hundred and two nations were ranked in the “2015 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index.” Measured are impartiality, due process, and individual rights as well as the effectiveness of the nation’s criminal investigation and corrections system. America ranked 23rd of 102 nations.

    The incarceration rate in America is different in other ways. Tapio Lappi-Seppala, the Institute of Criminology and Legal Policy‘s director found through research:

    • Victimization rates in America ranked roughly the same as Western European nations, yet the American rate of incarceration rate was significantly higher.
    • America ranked low among Organizations for Economic Cooperation, and Development nations in social service monies spent as a percentage of the GDP yet the country’s incarceration with the highest among similarly ranked nations.
    • The U.S. ranked midway in recorded homicide rates compared to over 100 nations, but still had the highest recorded incarceration rate from 2010 until 2013.
    • On the public punitive attitude scale, America ranked highest out of almost 30 countries — primarily in Europe. Comparative studies on punishment are growing, and there are theories why America is an anomaly.

    Books have been written about this arcane subject and most of the writing seems like undergraduate thesis work. But Las Vegas bail bonds agent Taylor Barton will plow on.

    While crime peaked in the 1960s and 1970s, the spike was not unique to America. What stands out was America’s response to getting tough on crime through legislation pushed by then New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.

    While “get tough” policies continued into the next two decades, Americans have now seen the wastefulness of mandatory minimum sentencing, life sentences without parole and the three-strikes law.

    America’s citizens got worried when crime soared, and the crime issue topped voter concerns throughout the 1970s. A lack of political cohesiveness on the causes of violent crime increases and what to do boosted public interest.

    Another problem is the network of social services is not as developed in America compared to other nations. The U.S. relies more on incarceration for individuals who would have otherwise been sent to non-institutional care such as homeless shelters, mental health programs or substance abuse rehab centers.

    “The lack of development of government institutions has meant that the default is simply to lock individuals up,” says David Garland, a New York University sociology professor.

    The Bottom Line

    Even when adjusting for other factors, America locks up individuals at a higher rate than any other industrialized nation. The crime rate has decreased in the early years of the 21st century, but the incarceration rate remains the same. Some see those trends changing. Often individuals who would have been locked up in the 1970s are now being released and sent to diversion programs.

    2009 was the first year in three decades that saw prisons releasing more inmates than receiving.

    In 2013, the American Supreme Court ruled in Alleyne v U.S. that mandatory minimums, as then prescribed, were unconstitutional. Many attorneys litigated the issue in state courts with the result mandatory minimums found to be unconstitutional.

    What reasoning supports the draconian sentencing? Conservative Criminology advocates and any idiot who can’t tell constitutes the real cost of incarceration.

    [/column]

  • New York City Plans To Eliminate Bail For Low-Level Or Non-Violent Suspects

    New York City Plans To Eliminate Bail For Low-Level Or Non-Violent Suspects

    Thousands of New Yorkers accused of low-level or non-violent crimes won’t face the prospect of raising cash for bail under a plan that seeks to keep such suspects out of the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.

    The $18 million city plan, detailed to The Associated Press ahead of the announcement on Wednesday, allows judges beginning next year to replace bail for low-risk defendants with supervision options including daily check-ins, text-message reminders and connecting them with drug or behavioral therapy.

    Bail has long been criticized by inmate advocates for unfairly targeting poor people. And reforms were recommended by a mayoral task-force last year after the AP reported on the case of a mentally ill homeless man who was unable to make $2,500 bail for trespassing and died in a sweltering hot Rikers cell.

    More calls for reform gained traction after the suicide last month of 22-year-old Kalief Browder. When he was 16 years old, Browder was unable to make $3,000 bail on charges he stole a backpack. He ended up being held in Rikers for three years, beaten by inmates and guards alike and held in solitary confinement before charges against him were eventually dropped.

    “I think the basic principle is that Kalief Browder and other cases have begun to signify this (need for reform) in the public eye,” said Elizabeth Glazer, the mayor’s criminal justice coordinator. “We want to focus on risk to be the determining factor to decide if someone will be in or out; and it has to be risk, not money.”

    Currently, about 41 percent of criminal defendants who pass through New York City courts annually are released on their own recognizance and another 14 percent, or 45,500 people, are held on bail.

    About 87 percent of the 1,100 people on supervised release in already-existing city pilot programs return to court when they’re supposed to, officials said.

    Initial funding, provided by the Manhattan district attorney, allows for as many as 3,000 defendants charged with misdemeanors or non-violent felonies to bypass bail, letting them live with their families and keep their jobs while their cases wind through the courts. Officials say they would like to expand non-bail options to include thousands more.

    Releasing defendants to community supervision based on so-called risk-assessment tools that gauge a person’s threat to public safety is increasingly done in cities and states throughout the country.

    About 10 percent of state, county and city courts currently use some such tool to decide if a defendant’s too risky to be released or who qualifies for some level of supervision, according to the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, which created its own risk instrument that’s used in Arizona, Kentucky and New Jersey as well as in cities such as Charlotte, Chicago, and Phoenix.

    Washington, D.C., also is considered a model for eliminating bail, though it still detains pre-trial offenders deemed too dangerous to be released back in the community.

    But in New York, unlike most states, efforts to fully do away with bail are complicated by state law, which requires judges to consider defendants’ risk of flight, not their risk of reoffending, when determining bail conditions.

    Glazer said she hoped legislators would consider changing the law, a move supported by the state’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, who said in a statement alternatives to either jail time or no supervision at all “are critical steps in reducing overreliance on bail.”

  • Connell man charged with murdering girlfriend and her son held on $1 million bail

    Connell man charged with murdering girlfriend and her son held on $1 million bail

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    Washington State Man Held on $1 Million Bail

    A Connell, Washington man was arrested for killing his girlfriend and son and was held on $1 million bail (records from provider of bail bonds in Las Vegas).

    Prudencio Juan Fragos-Ramirez was scheduled to return to court on July 14 faced two counts of first-degree murder. The charges said Fragos-Ramirez acted with premeditation when he shot Maria G. Cruz-Cavillo, 18 and Luis Lopez-Crus, 3. After he shot the two, he set their car on fire in a ravine near Scooteney Reservoir. Dan Blasdel, the county coroner, said the boy was probably alive when the car was set afire.

    Fragoso-Ramirez was arrested shortly after the start of the investigation less than one-mile where the bodies were found in the smoldering car.

    Lawyers took four days to select a jury before presenting their respective sides to the case.

    Fragoso-Ramirez’s attorney, Scott Johnson, claimed there was no evidence that his client was responsible or the deaths.

    “At this moment, somewhere out there, a person has a terrible secret,” Johnson told the jury. “Someone knows how two people were killed and someone knows why they were killed.”

    Cruz-Calvillo and Fragos-Ramirez met in February 2015 and had just been dating him a few weeks before being killed on July 2.

    “The last individual to see Maria and Luis alive was Fragos-Ramirez,” Prosecutor Dave Corkrum said. “He was the first person to see them dead because he murdered them.”

    Victim’s Mother and Grandmother Speak to Jury

    Maria de Jesus Cruz-Calvillo, the victim’s mother, told the jury, “The killings changed life for each of us. He (Fragos-Ramirez) didn’t need to hurt anyone. I ask, ‘why did he do that’?” Following the murders, Jesus Cruz-Calvillo moved out of her house for four months. “Everything reminded me f my daughter and grandson,” she said.

    Jesus Cruz-Calvillo is now scared of the dark and frightened of being alone. She says Fragos-Ramirez killed her that day as well.

    “Even if he stays in prison his whole lie, I’m not pleased as he created a lot of damage to my family and me.”

    Maria Cruz-Calvillo and her son went shopping at Pasco when a next-door-neighbor noticed them stop by Fragos-Ramirez’s house.

    Less than 30-minutes after the visit; smoke was seen in a nearby ravine. Firefighters were extinguishing the flames when they observed two figures inside.

    Prosecutors claimed Fragos-Ramirez killed the youthful mother as he was domineering and consumed with the 18-year old.

    Defense lawyers maintained that Cruz-Calvillo had been marked by drug traffickers.

    Fragos-Ramirez did not testify and was sentenced to life in prison for each of the murders.

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  • Dylann Roof will remain in jail as judge could not set bond for murder charges

    Dylann Roof will remain in jail as judge could not set bond for murder charges

    Roof’s Death Sentence Bucks Trend in America

    Dylan Roof’s death sentence for the South Carolina shooting which left nine people dead, departs from the national downward trending of death penalty cases.

    Before the June 17, 2015 mass shooting, Roof’s only contact with police had been two arrests each occurring in the months immediately before the deadly attack. Following a February 28 incident at a Columbia mall, Roof was questioned by law enforcement and arrested on a misdemeanor charge of drug possession and banned from the mall for twelve-months.

    From the mid-1990s when death penalty cases stood at over 300 a year, the number of new death penalty cases has dropped to 30 in 2016 according to the Death Penalty Information Center.  The previous low was a 40-year low of 40 in 2015.

    Executions have dropped from almost 100 in 1999 to twenty in 2016 according to DPIC. Better defense teams, publicity of wrongful-conviction cases and changing public opinions of capital punishment have all led to the decline according to Robert Dunham, Executive Director of DPIC.

    “We’re in the middle of a climate change on the death penalty,” Dunham said. “The long-term trend shows a reduced utilization of the death penalty.”

    Roof, who fired a .45 caliber handgun told jurors “I felt like I had to do it. I still feel that way.”

    The jury recommended the death penalty after three hours of deliberation.

    In some ways, Roof’s case is an anomaly. He decided to defend himself, didn’t show any remorse and talking about killing again. At least, this is what Tayor Barton thinks – a bail bondsman in Las Vegas who keeps an eye on this case.

    “Someone representing themselves is not going to be able to put on that type of case,” said Brandon Garrett, a professor with the University of Virginia Law School.

     

    Is Dylann Roof’s Execution Justified?

    The drop in death penalty cases can be linked to improvements in capital defense teams nationally. Also, there are fewer cities and counties pushing the death penalty for budgetary reasons.

    Texas, with 538 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, is seeing a decline as well. Death sentences have fallen from a zenith of 48 in 1999 to three in 2015 and three in 2016, said Kristin Houle, director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

    In a 2016 Gallup Poll, a majority of people across America — 60-percent — favor the death penalty. That figure is down from 80-percent who supported the punishment in 1994.

    Garrett feels the shift from death sentences may be irreversible. “The trends are long-standing and ingrained,” he said. “I see them continuing.”