WASHINGTON COUNTY GRAND JURY RETURNS 26 INDICTMENTS
The Washington County Grand Jury meet this week and returned 26 indictments. Those indicted include:
Jarvis Deshawn Burns, 44 of Brenham, was indicted for Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child under 14 years of age.
Brent Michael Cuthbertson, 39 of Pflugerville, was indicted for Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Attempted Tampering with Physical Evidence.
Jose Avel Perea Ferrel, 49 of Brenham, was indicted for Driving While Intoxicated with a Child Passenger.
Michael Leroy Hooper, 43 of Brenham, was indicted for two counts of Assault of a Family Member with a Previous Conviction.
Cody Allen Hyman, 36 of Brenham, was indicted for Assault of a Family Member by Impeding Breath.
Michelle Sierra Jaimes, 17 of Austin, was indicted for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle.
Donna Kalmus, 42 of Brenham, was indicted for Abandoning or Endangering a Child.
Marcus Andre Lee, 48 of Navasota, was indicted for Driving While Intoxicated, 3rd offence.
Tiffany Taylor Vasquez, 50 of Somerville, was indicted for Driving While Intoxicated, 3rd or more offences.
Six people were indicted for Possession of a Controlled Substance. They are: Ryon Oneil Anderson, 43 of Nederland, Texas, Daylynn Marie Black, 22 of Brenham, Jazmine Daniela Malicoat, 24 of Houston, Kenneth Dustin Rodgers, 18 of Bellville, Michael Anthony Tucker, 32 of Georgetown, and Julian Ray Vela, 34 of Brenham.
So concerned Citizen is more worried about the people serving and doing their job than the people who commit crimes. How about asking the question “why are so many people breaking laws these days which result indictments?”
The typical order of things as I understand it is: the crime (by criminal), reporting of the crime (typically by victim), investigation or arrest (by police), indictment and arraignment (by grand jury and DA), and then either settlement (by DA) or trial (by judge and jury). The local budget for judges and correction departments may also be a factor considered by the DA since they may not want to clog the system with every potential offender under the sun. County budgets are set by county commissioners.
Well-resourced and aggressive law enforcement agencies and DA’s offices are going to bring more cases or better-quality cases to a grand jury, resulting in more indictments and ultimately in more guilty pleas or convictions. That may not result in reduced crime if a lot of the crime being discovered by law enforcement occurs during routine traffic stops along major highways between major cities. We do seem to have a lot of that here.
Professionalism in law enforcement increases public trust, meaning that more crimes get reported. That means that better law enforcement may result in a higher reported crime rate even if the average citizen is much safer.
That means that a really busy grand jury is a glass half full or a glass half empty. It means whatever you want it to mean.
I’m not involved in this, so I don’t pretend to know what it means. People I’ve talked with about their experience serving on grand juries have had generally positive things to say about their experience and I hope that I get a chance to serve one day.
Who exactly is on the Washington county grand jury ? And why/how do they seem to indict everyone?
Are you implying that it is a bad thing and we should out the people who serve their community on a jury?
The old adage is that a district attorney in Texas can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. Grand juries usually only hear the prosecution’s side, thus the rate of indictments.
They do not indict everyone. The media does not post those who were no billed. When I served in the 90’s we no billed several that did not have the evidence to support them going to trial.
They indict based on evidence presented. Its what they do. They are selected when they are summoned to by legal order.