HOUSTON – Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, members of her staff, and families of murdered loved ones announced updates on the district attorney’s office’s successes in reducing the backlog of criminal cases, including murders.
Ogg said the results of the recent initiatives by the DA’s office help lead to a 21% reduction in the criminal case backlog from the COVID-related highs of recent years.
She also credited her staff for that success, pointing out two recent initiatives that spurred major backlog reductions -- the creation of a homicide division within the office and implementation of a “triage” program.
Ogg created the homicide division in 2022, assigning 12 veteran prosecutors and six skilled investigators to a unit dedicated to capital murder cases and pending cases.
The team aggressively pushed some of the most violent offenders’ cases to plea or trial. Some had been pending for more than four years, worsened by the pandemic and closure of the Criminal Justice Center following Hurricane Harvey.
In addition, Ogg and her senior leadership secured the funding to create an overtime program in which prosecutors meet after hours and on weekends to review more than 30,000 nonviolent, mostly victimless misdemeanor and state jail felony cases. Those cases are then considered for solutions other than incarceration.
KPRC 2 has done stories on the thousands of cases that remained in our criminal justice system, leaving victims and accused suspects waiting longer for their day in court.
In February, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced a major expansion of the jail competency restoration program to cut the backlog and reduce the jail population.
Harris Co. Judge Lina Hidalgo announces major expansion of jail competency to cut backlog
According to information published by the District Courts of Harris County, there were 48,915 active cases pending, 37% of which are more than a year old, in March 2022, but the Harris County District Attorney’s Office reported the backlog was actually 135,030 around that time.
Harris County estimates at least 2 years to make a ‘significant’ dent in criminal case backlog
KPRC 2 investigative reporter Robert Arnold said the backlog allegedly started when Hurricane Harvey swamped the courthouse, delaying trials and scattering prosecutors to several different buildings.
“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.”