Friday Morning at 10am, dozens of community members, activists and victims of the criminal “justice” system came to Houston’s City hall to attend, testify and support the field hearing of the House Judiciary Committee looking into Crime, Justice and Race in Harris County. Congress People Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston and John Conyers of Detroit chaired the events and were joined by Texas State Legislators and members of Houston City Council.
They invited people to testify, including The District Attorney of Dallas County who has been trying to reform the office and has began retesting DNA evidence of folks convicted by the office, thus far freeing 8 innocent people. There were also number people who are victims of the Harris County Sheriffs office and other local agencies, including Sean and Erik Ibarra who recently won a 1.7 million dollar settlement from the Sheriffs office following being beaten and facing manufactured charges by the Sheriffs office in 2002. Also the Children of Margarita Savadrea who died in Harris County Jail after not receiving medication to treat her diabetes.
The audience was extremely supportive and frequently broke into applause and cheering in support of those giving testimony. Some people were able to bring signs into the hearing reading: “Houston we have a problem” and “Time to Clean House”.
The next step is apparently going to be a local hearing where the speakers list will be open to everyone who wants to give testimony. In the long run there may be a more developed field hearing where the house judiciary committee can compel testimony by supoena and try to push for changes in the Harris county system.
It was an interesting event, it will be interesting to see is the slow grinding gears of the government bueurocracy will be able to help correct the continued injustices of the local justice system.
Audio I recorded at the hearing: Victims of Texas Justice speak at field hearing in Houston
