Harris County District Attorney’s Office
500 Jefferson Street, Suite 600
Houston, TX 77002

David Mitcham
First Assistant
Vivian King
Chief of Staff

HARRIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
KIM K. OGG
To:
Houston Area Police Chiefs Association
Date: November 14, 2019
Re:
No Probable Cause Findings by Judges and Probable Cause Magistrates
Thank you and all of the police officials for your invitation to attend the November
14, 2019 meeting to discuss current issues affecting Harris County law enforcement
officers. Another issue has come to our attention which may be negatively impacting
public safety. It is also indicative of a trend in judicial discretion that directly affects our
overall community and your law enforcement officers.
As of November 6, 2019, Harris County magistrates and judges have made 3,217
findings of “no probable cause” on individuals arrested by your agencies and filed by our
Harris County District Attorney’s Office Intake attorneys. To bring the problem into
greater focus: your officers are spending valuable agency time and resources to arrest
offenders, gather evidence and statements, and present the cases to our DA Intake
attorneys, who spend valuable agency time drafting warrants and reviewing the cases—
only to have magistrates find “NO PROBABLE CAUSE”, necessitating the release of the
offender. In 2019 alone, of the 3,217 cases mentioned, 2,232 were misdemeanor offenses
and 985 were felony offenses. These numbers continue to increase. It reflects a 139%
increase since 2015. The monetary waste is obvious. The public safety risk is the bigger
problem.
A review of reasons stated by the judiciary include (1) DIMS statements which do
not contain detail or sufficiency for each element of the crime filed; (2) hearing officers and
judges’ philosophy or perspective of that sufficiency and detailed DIMS summary; and (3)
increasingly vocal, personal perspectives about the crimes and offenders themselves as
stated by the magistrates and judges.
The findings of “NO PROBABLE CAUSE” are also occurring in the courts where the
cases are assigned. Some judicial findings are made in Probable Cause Court at or near the
time of the charge being filed and others are made later in the courtroom, sometimes at
the time of plea, causing the defendant’s case to be dismissed and wasting everyone’s time.
In many cases, these criminal charges can be refiled. Together our agencies will
have to determine whether the resources required for your officers and our attorneys to
refile the same case a second time are worth the expense and effort. To refile a case, please
have a supervisor re-screen the matter to determine (when possible) the reason for the

No Probable Cause Findings

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 finding of “NO PROBABLE CAUSE”. If the DIMS is insufficient, if more evidence to prove
a particular element must be gathered, we urge you to continue your investigation to gather
that evidence and re-present the case to our Intake attorneys. We know from experience
that, in refiling the case, the court (which made the “NO PROBABLE CAUSE” finding) may
require an expedited trial schedule – several judges have ordered trial in 10 days. This
means when your agency officer re-presents a criminal case in which “NO PROBABLE
CAUSE” has been found, the case must be trial ready. That means when the refile is done,
the officer must present the case with all evidence in hand. This includes lab results, bodyworn camera videos, full offense reports, witness statements, and all other items for trial.
This is not a situation of our making. Every one of these decisions is being made by
our local magistrates and judiciary and should be of critical concern in terms of just how
far our limited resources can be stretched as we strive together to keep Harris County safe.
To increase your agency’s awareness about this trend, we will begin sending every
agency a daily update of cases in which Harris County magistrates and judges are making
a “NO PROBABLE CAUSE” finding. In that way, your line officers will know which of their
cases have been rejected and which of the defendants arrested the day before have been
released.
A full briefing will be presented tomorrow at the meeting, but for your immediate
review. I am including with this memorandum a chart which shows findings of “NO
PROBABLE CAUSE” for the 3,217 2019 cases by each law enforcement agency. Lists of
individual cases including details such as defendant name, cause number, and offense
report can be provided for your review. Open records laws make it possible to obtain video
of the probable cause hearings held by the magistrates in the Probable Cause courts.

No Probable Cause Findings

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 Findings of No Probable Cause for 2019 by Police Agency
compiled from JWEB data by JoAnne Musick (MM) as of 11/6/19

Agency

ALIEF ISD POLICE DEPARTMENT
BAYTOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT
BELLAIRE POLICE DEPARTMENT
CONSTABLE PRECINCT 1 (HARRIS COUNTY)
CONSTABLE PRECINCT 2 (HARRIS COUNTY)
CONSTABLE PRECINCT 3 (HARRIS COUNTY)
CONSTABLE PRECINCT 4 (HARRIS COUNTY)
CONSTABLE PRECINCT 5 (HARRIS COUNTY)
CONSTABLE PRECINCT 6 (HARRIS COUNTY)
CONSTABLE PRECINCT 7 (HARRIS COUNTY)
CONSTABLE PRECINCT 8 (HARRIS COUNTY)
CYPRESS-FAIRBANKS ISD PD
DEER PARK POLICE
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY - 2ND TXNUMB
FRIENDSWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT
GALENA PARK POLICE DEPARTMENT
HARRIS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF
HEDWIG VILLAGE POLICE DEPARTMENT
HOUSTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE POLICE
HOUSTON ISD POLICE DEPARTMENT
HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT
HOUSTON_FIRE_&_ARSON_DIVISION
HUMBLE I.S.D. POLICE DEPT.
HUMBLE POLICE DEPARTMENT
JACINTO CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
JERSEY VILLAGE POLICE DEPARTMENT
KATY ISD POLICE DEPARTMENT
KATY POLICE DEPARTMENT

No Probable Cause Findings

Quantity

3
107
14
74
8
21
161
85
39
15
19
6
37
51
10
2
72
474
3
1
11
1656
3
1
33
5
41
3
3

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 KLEIN ISD POLICE DEPARTMENT
LA PORTE POLICE DEPARTMENT
LAKEVIEW POLICE DEPARTMENT
MEMORIAL VILLAGES POLICE DEPARTMENT
METRO TRANSIT AUTHORITY
MISSOURI CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
NASSAU BAY POLICE DEPARTMENT
PASADENA ISD POLICE DEPARTMENT
PASADENA POLICE DEPARTMENT
PEARLAND POLICE DEPARTMENT
PORT OF HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT
RICE UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
SEABROOK POLICE DEPARTMENT
SOUTH HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT
SPRING I.S.D POLICE DEPARTMENT
ST THOMAS UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
STAFFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT
TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER POLICE DEPARTMENT
TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE
TEXAS SOUTHERN POLICE DEPARTMENT
TOMBALL POLICE DEPARTMENT
U.H. CENTRAL CAMPUS POLICE DEPARTMENT
U.H. CLEAR LAKE POLICE DEPARTMENT
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS P.D. AT HOUSTON
WALLER POLICE DEPARTMENT
WEBSTER POLICE DEPARTMENT
WEST UNIVERSITY POLICE DEPARTMENT
Grand Total

No Probable Cause Findings

2
36
1
9
15
3
4
2
87
1
6
2
12
17
2
1
1
3
4
6
10
2
1
1
1
25
5
3217

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