'I'll never see him again': Activists argue against Texas bail reform
Mar 18, 2025
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As the Texas House debates bills to make it easier to deny bail for defendants accused of violent crimes, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas and others said the focus should be on eliminating the cash bail system altogether.
Held in jail without a trial for 18
years
"I was in the Harris County jail from 2006 to 2024," Edric Wilson said. "I was held without bond for a charge that was later thrown out. For 12 years, there was no option for me to gain or experience freedom as I awaited trial for a murder I knew I didn't commit."
According to a Houston Chronicle report from 2006, Wilson was already in custody when he was arrested for the bludgeoning death of Johnnie Daniels, the great-aunt of pastor Joel Osteen. Tommy Thomas, the Harris County Sheriff at the time, cited DNA evidence linking Wilson to evidence collected under Daniels' fingernails.
However Wilson never got his day in court.
"It was only when I told the mental hospital that I didn't have a bond for 12 years in pretrial that they said that wasn't possible, and they talked to the courts and had a bond set for me," Wilson said. "But this bond was $850,000 and no one in my family could make that bond either."
Current law should've prevented Wilson from being held without a bond option for more than 60 days, unless the no bond order was renewed every 60 days. However SJR 5, which passed the Senate already, would allow criminals accused of violent crimes, like murder, to be held without bond until their trial date.
"My case was recently thrown out because DNA evidence determined and confirmed that I was not the person who committed the murder," Wilson said.
A Houston Chronicle article said there was insufficient evidence of guilt to determine that the DNA matched Wilson's.
"If my bond had been lowered (to) a reasonable level -- which the law requires -- I could've been out working, out with my family, out living my life. In reality I was stuck. I was living a life sentence as (if) I was a guilty person. Not innocent until proven guilty, but guilty until proven innocent, that's how I lived."
'A pissed off man who's brother is dead'
"I raised (my brother) with my four kids like he was my own son," Burleson resident Darren Yancy, who asked to be introduced as 'a pissed off man whose brother is dead,' said. "I'll never see him again. These bills will increase that probability."
Yancy said his brother was a diabetic who was arrested because he "did some stupid things to self-medicate," Yancy said.
After Yancy's brother died on Dec. 27, 2024 in the Tarrant County jail, Yancy decided to look more into the system his brother was held in.
"His was inmate No. 9 that had died that year and No. 69 under the -- I guess we'd call it lack of leadership from (the Sheriff)," Yancy said. "When you have people that are dying in jail, trying to get before a judge, why the hell... would you want them to stay longer and increase their probability of death."
While Yancy's brother was offered a bail, which wasn't posted, Yancy wanted to speak on the condition of Texas jails which would be holding more people under proposed bail reforms.
"The bills we'll be hearing about today are based on the predication that we have a functioning jail system," Yancy said. "We don't." ...read more read less
