The deadly shooting spree police say was committed by a San Antonio man who was out on bail for assault has again initiated a rush to assign blame to politicians, law enforcement, the district attorney and justice system reform advocates in Bexar County.
Shane Matthew James Jr., 34, was arrested on Dec. 5 in Austin after he killed six people, including his parents in Bexar County, police alleged.
The case has led to calls for an end to a bail assistance program and more punitive bail amounts.
It’s a tragic example of how the bail system works — and sometimes doesn’t — but justice system experts say it does not demonstrate a broad need to start locking up every accused person or first-time offender before their trial.
“The general public tends to say: ‘Lock them up, throw away the key,’ but forget that under our [U.S.] Constitution … we’re guaranteed due process,” said Richard Hartley, chair of UTSA’s department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. “It’s not as simplistic as it might seem. We’re not great at prediction.”
The Texas Organizing Project (TOP), a progressive social and political advocacy nonprofit, helped get James out of jail last year when he was arrested for his first three misdemeanor charges. TOP’s Education Fund paid his $300 bond and James was released in March 2022.
TOP Executive Director Michelle Tremillo pointed out in a statement that “even if James had been convicted to the maximum extent for his charges, the legal system would likely have released him within a year, and more likely in six months or less.”
The core issues of James’ case have little to do with bail practices, she stated. “There is an urgent need for comprehensive mental health care services and substantial gun reform in Texas.”
Under state law, nearly everyone has the right to bail — with few exceptions, for those charged with capital murder offenses, repeat felons and other cases.
But in the wake of the James case and a string of shootings involving police and people with criminal records, local law enforcement officials and Republican politicians called for stricter bail standards.
“These actions and leftist policies have contributed to the increased lawlessness and diminished the safety for Bexar County residents,” Bexar County GOP Chair Jeff McManus said in a statement regarding James case, pointing out that TOP has supported Bexar County’s Democratic district attorney and sheriff.
Reports of violent crime were down citywide 12.6% in the first six months of the year compared to the same time period last year. Overall, crime is up citywide by 1.5% due to an increase of property crimes — which continues to be driven by motor vehicle theft.
However, private, for-profit bail bonds companies are used to bail a majority of people out of jail, for typically 10% of the bond amount, Hartley said. “The judge sets the bail, but then we’re allowing a private company to go ahead and reduce it by 90%.”
The cash bail system disproportionately keeps low-income and people of color in jail — who haven’t been convicted of a crime, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, a progressive advocacy and research nonprofit.
“Our commitment to TOP Education Fund’s bail program is unwavering, grounded in the belief that financial constraints should not be a barrier to pretrial release, especially for low-level or first-time offenses,” Tremillo stated.
In an interview with the San Antonio Report last week, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai, who is a Democrat, defended TOP’s bail program.
“I think they should be applauded for the fact that they have tried to get the low-level offender, the misdemeanor offenders, who especially have mental health issues or [are] mentally ill out of jail,” Sakai said. “I understand that TOP has participated, but I don’t think [TOP] should be judged on one incident that obviously had a very unfortunate tragic circumstance.”
The James case
In January, James was arrested and charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury for “pushing and scratching” his parents and a sibling, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said during a recent press conference.
A judge initially set bail at $500 per count, but later reduced it to $100 each, according to TOP and Salazar. James was fitted with an ankle monitor when he was released on March 7, 2022 and he disabled it the next day, Salazar said. The following day, warrants were issued for his re-arrest.
According to the Austin Police Department, James — who was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 2015 related to a domestic violence incident and placed under an emergency detainment for mental health in Austin in 2018 — legally purchased a gun from a private seller in July 2022.
In August, Bexar County deputies responded to James’ parents’ house for a “mental health” call, Salazar said. James, naked and unarmed, had barricaded himself in a bedroom. His father had called 911.
The deputies tried to de-escalate the situation and take James into custody, but were unable to “put hands on him” due to the limited authority to “bust down a door” in response to misdemeanor charges, Salazar said.
“It appears [the deputies] were making every effort to avoid a violent confrontation with what they could tell was an unarmed man in the nude,” he said. “That is a no-win situation for them, should they be accused of inciting a violent confrontation with this man.”
The deputies left the scene without arresting James, instead asking his father to call them when James emerged from the bedroom, the sheriff said.
“We did not get another call back to this residence until” Austin Police Department asked local law enforcement to check the home after James was in custody following the shootings of his parents, Salazar said.
In Austin, James allegedly shot and killed four other people and injured several others, including an Austin Independent School District officer, a cyclist and an APD officer.
“I wish we’d have been able to get him in custody. Now, with that being said, it’s assuming a lot, had they just arrested him that day this wouldn’t have happened,” Salazar said. “Chances are he would have already served his time and been out by this time anyway. Even had we put him in custody in August. Regardless, I do wish there was more that the system could do for suspects like this man. It appears by all accounts he’s suffered with mental illness for some years.”
It’s unclear how much of James’ history was known by the judge.
“A lot of times the judges don’t have all the information,” Hartley said.
‘No crystal ball’
When the magistrate judge set James’ bail, they knew “pushing and scratching” were his first criminal charges in Bexar County, District Attorney Joe Gonzales said last week. “There was no crystal ball. … There was nothing to indicate that this individual was going to commit a murder and certainly not one of this seriousness where you have multiple victims.”
As a former judge in Bexar County’s Children’s court, Sakai knows the weight of judges’ rulings. He took a leave of absence from the court in 2004 after sending a 14-month old girl back to live with her mother, who later killed the child.
“I know the gravity, the consequence of making a decision, but at the same time, it strengthened me to understand that I can’t control the outcomes of particular circumstances,” Sakai said last week. “So judges have to make the best decision with the best evidence that’s provided to them and also in accordance with the law. … Public safety is paramount and so the court systems must ensure the public that they can assess bail or bond that will protect the community.”
When a magistrate judge rules on bail in Bexar County, they typically have the police report and criminal history summary from state and national databases in front of them, said Michael Young, former Bexar County chief public defender, who resigned in February to go into private practice.
Though Young could not speak to the specifics of James’ case, he said it appeared to be handled by the district attorney’s office and magistrate in a “typical” way. A reduction in bail amount is “definitely not unusual.”
What’s unusual is the shooting spree that followed, he said. “It is horrible when [something like that] happens, but to put it in context, there are tens of thousands of cases —misdemeanor cases — filed every year in Bexar County alone.”
According to TOP, 75% of the 915 closed cases of individuals who were assisted by its Right2Justice program in 2022 eventually had their cases dismissed.
“[That’s] a clear indication of insufficient evidence against them,” said Laquita Garcia, TOP’s statewide Right2Justice policy coordinator. “Without our intervention, these people would just sit in jail awaiting trial — all because they can’t afford to make bail -—draining taxpayers’ money and depleting vital community resources.”
Bail requires a balancing act between the rights of the accused and public safety, Hartley said.
“If it’s done correctly, it keeps dangerous offenders [away] from the community and done incorrectly, it is unnecessarily detaining low-risk, non-violent, indigent or poor defendants,” he said.
Incarcerating someone comes with a host of potential “collateral consequences” including the loss of housing or employment, he noted. “It increases the probability of your conviction and there is evidence to support the idea that sometimes people just plead guilty to get out of jail.”
Allowing wealth to determine whether someone can live their life outside of jail while awaiting trial “jeopardizes the legitimacy of the system,” he added. Because it sends the message that low-income people don’t have as many rights.
“Jail is also not a place for people with mental health issues,” Hartley said, echoing the calls Salazar, Sakai, Gonzales and others have made for years. “The problem is the criminal justice system is now the de facto mental health system, because the state won’t fund mental health entities much anymore.”
The shortage of forensic hospital beds — meaning a secure hospital setting for inmates to receive mental health care — has plagued Bexar County and other counties’ jail systems for years.
“There’s always a potential and we hope that people can be rehabilitated, but you got to get to court in order to accept rehabilitation, you have to be able to or be willing to resolve this case,” Gonzales said, referencing the county’s Mental Health Court. “He [James] was on the lam, as they say, and so unless we have him back in custody, or we have him coming into court, we can’t resolve the case.”
Measuring bail and justice
Many questions about which parts of the criminal justice system are leading to positive, negative or unintended outcomes, including the impact of bail amounts, could be answered by a study commissioned by the City of San Antonio from UTSA.
The Bexar County Case Processing Study, slated to be finalized over the next several months, will look at each case over the last five years from arrest to final disposition.
A string of police-involved shootings in September sparked public dispute between Gonzales and SAPD Chief William McManus. Later that month, Sakai and San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg committed to convene officials to find and implement solutions.
Sakai said he assembled a public safety committee and a report on their findings is being finalized.
District Court Judge Ron Rangel sent a letter to Sakai in October outlining several recommendations to improve the justice system.
“At the outset, I want to emphasize that this issue has been mischaracterized by some as a ‘bail issue.’ It is not,” Rangel wrote in an introduction to his analysis. “Bail amounts set for violent offenses have remained stable over the past 5 to 7 years. Further, Bexar County Magistrates have been setting average bail amounts for homicide charges at double the amount listed on prior bail schedules.”
Rangel’s recommendations include changes to intake procedures, having judges use a statewide database to assess criminal histories, recruiting and retaining prosecutors as well as jail staff, expanding pre-trial services and improving lab report wait times at the Bexar County Crime Lab.
“… [I]t is important to recognize that the challenges within the criminal justice system are not solely the fault of one component: rather, the challenges stem from a complex interplay of factors,” Rangel wrote. “Moreover, it is vital for law enforcement officials to present a united front and refrain from public disputes and blame, as such conduct only further erodes the public’s trust in the system.”
