The Bexar County Courthouse is churning through cases. According to data released in a memo Thursday, felony courts are on track to eliminate its pandemic backlog early next year.
Last year, the district attorney’s office and courts asked for patience as it waded through more than 30,000 criminal cases — both misdemeanors and felonies — that came to a virtual standstill during the pandemic.
The state district courts, which handle felony cases, have started proceedings on an estimated 34,000 since jury trials resumed in April.
A memo from Bexar County General Administrative Counsel Ana Amici to Presiding Judge Ron Rangel estimated they have started hearing 2,000 felony cases a week and have seen the number of active pending cases fall by 13% — from a high of 9,400 to 8,200.
Rangel, who also presides over the 379th Criminal District Court, said they had to streamline and approach the system differently but are starting to see the fruits of those changes. The county continues to use tools like Zoom for jury qualifications, which they see as faster.
“It is a new era, the sense is we’re processing about three times the number of cases and what we did pre pandemic,” Rangel said.
He estimated they should be back at pre-pandemic levels for felony cases by early next year.
“I don't see a judge that I know of that's going to take a vacation anytime soon. I mean, they're hustling right now trying to get this backlog fixed,” said Ron Tooke, president of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County.
The Bexar County Jail is still struggling though, said Tooke in an interview last month. About half his union members work there.
The jail is nearly 90% full, according to a June report from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, with more than 4,500 people locked up. The staff has dwindled as turnover and recruitment efforts have battled to keep up. Many detention workers are working two to three days a week of mandatory overtime as a result.
The numbers have ticked up since January, which is not unusual, but it is partially driven by “holds” (which includes federal immigration holds, state psychiatric hospital holds and holds for other counties) and people waiting to be transferred to state prison — accounting for more than 600 people jailed.
