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Heavy backlog of criminal cases reduced in Harris County
Major headway was achieved in the massive backlog of criminal cases weighing down Harris County courts. FOX 26 Political Reporter Greg Groogan reports on how much ground local prosecutors have regained.
HOUSTON - The anguish of Barbara Verappen never ceases.
She is a grieving mother who suffered for five years waiting for her son's killer to be held accountable in a Harris County court. The Harris County District Attorney's Office has criminal cases backing up preventing many cases from being resolved.
"There's not a day that my husband and I don't cry for him. I do not want to see any family go through this. I don't want to see any family take this long for trial," said Verappen.
Delay is a brutal consequence of an unprecedented, crime wave-driven case backlog - a massive pile-up of pending cases District Attorney Kim Ogg says her prosecutors have reduced substantially.
"To reduce the backlog, our team has to work at 100 percent plus," said Ogg.
Ogg says through a combination of staff overtime and Herculean commitment, the total case backlog has been reduced by 21 percent from 145,000 in June 2021 to 114,000 on Wednesday, with 119 murders and capitol murders cleared this year alone.
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Attorney says slow moving evidence keeping Harris County Jail overcrowded
**EDITORS NOTE: This video is from a previous story. FOX 26 Reporter Gabby Hart spoke with the attorney about what he thinks is causing the Harris County Jail overcrowding issue.
"This backlog reduction is a welcome reward for our unending focus and hard work on resolving these cases," Ogg said. "Most importantly, these successes lead to more victims getting resolution of their cases – and getting that resolution more quickly. And that’s the best reward of all."
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Ogg gave her staff credit for the initiative's success and pointed out the creation of a Homicide Division within the office and the implementation of a "triage" program, both of which helped the major backlog reductions.
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"We will never get down zero. What we are trying to achieve is pre-Harvey levels and we are not there yet," said Ogg.
Twelve veteran prosecutors were assigned to the Homicide Division in 2022 and were dedicated to trying failing homicide cases. The team was said to have pushed for some of the most violent offenders' cases to plea or go to trial.
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Some of the offender's cases have been reportedly pending for more than four years, which was only worsened by the pandemic and Criminal Justice Center closing after Hurricane Harvey.
Ogg says a more rapid reduction is limited by the size of her staff, just 330 prosecutors serving the needs of more than 5 million Harris County residents.
"We are the lowest staffed office of the 20 largest DA offices in the country. Our caseloads are terrible," said Ogg.
The ultimate goal for Ogg and her team is to reduce the amount of time to prosecute cases to pre-Harvey levels - one year for misdemeanors and 18 months for more serious felonies.