US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rules misdemeanor bond reform used by Harris Co. judge shouldn't have happened

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - Since 2018, county court at law judges were ordered by a federal court to grant PR, or personal Recognizance, bonds to defendants charged with misdemeanors. 

It became known as the O'Donnel suit, and it has cost Harris County millions of dollars.

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John O'Neill represented 16 county court judges during the 2018 trial.

"None of this should have ever happened," he said. "The federal government had no jurisdiction. They should have abstained, and it should have gone to state court as the 5th Circuit has held. It was an outrageous ruling."

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The 2018 trial would be the last for O'Neil.

"I practiced law for over 50 years, it was the worst single ruling of my lifetime," he said. "I was so horrified by this ruling that was the last case I ever tried after 50 years. I lost hope, literally, in the system."

The District Attorney's Office is now working on what happens next.

You can see John O'Neill's entire interview and read the 64-page ruling below:

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