Murder Suspect Released because Charges not Filed Timely

Interesting story: An accused murderer was released on a reduced bond because his attorney was able to demonstrate that the McLennan County District Attorney did not successfully indict him in a timely fashion.

As a primer, indictment is the formalization of criminal charges against a suspect by a body of citizens referred to as a Grand Jury. It is the responsibility of the District Attorney to present the Grand Jury with enough evidence to convince them that the charge for which the Defendant was accused should be pursued in a court of law. However, it should be noted that the Grand Jury makes its determination on a much lower standard than does a jury in a criminal trial. Thus, because of the dynamics of grand jury presentations, it is typically not very difficult for a District Attorney to succeed in having a case indicted by the Grand Jury. As Tom Wolfe wrote in The Bonfire of the Vanities,"A grand jury would 'indict a ham sandwich,' if that's what you wanted."

All sandwiching aside, under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 17.151, if an indictment is not had by the 90th day that a felony suspect is incarcerated, then that suspect must be released on a personal recognizance (PR) bond. This appears to be what happened in the case of 20 year old murder suspect, Steven Pace.

Even though Pace was recently indicted, this law is designed to protect the constitutional rights of people like Pace who could otherwise be held indefinitely while the District Attorney determined whether or not they would pursue charges against him. Thus, Pace's attorney did exactly what he should have done by securing a PR bond for Pace in light of the delay. Nevertheless, some residents of McLennan County may (understandbly) be upset by the fact that someone who has been charged with an offese as serious as Pace's could be released on such a bond.

Below is the original story from the Waco Tribune Herlad. What are your thoughts? Did the DA's office drop the ball? Is this the type of thing which is to be expected when you have a DA operating in a moderately sized jurisdiction such as McLennan County?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Man indicted for murder awarded personal recognizance bond

By Kirsten Crow
Tribune-Herald staff writer

Tuesday December 20, 2011

A 20-year-old man indicted for murder was awarded a personal recognizance bond because of the indictment not falling within 90 days of his arrest.
Steven Jay Peace Jr. was released from McLennan County Jail about 5:30 p.m. Monday. Peace was indicted for the April slaying of Emuel Bowers III and has been jailed since Aug. 25, though aggravated robbery was added to his charges Friday.
According to Peace’s attorney, Alan Bennett, the aggravated robbery charge stemmed from the same incident as the murder indictment and therefore received the same allowance for a personal recognizance bond.
According to a McLennan County Jail spokesman, Peace’s personal recognizance bonds total $100,000.
Bennett said Peace will be confined to his home and monitored electronically.