County takes ‘first step’ in easing case filing process

The county is taking a step to shorten the amount of time arrestees could spend in the Hays County Jail awaiting a court date. 

On Tuesday, the Hays County Commissioners Court approved a professional services agreement with Tyler Technologies to implement a pre-filing software module that District Attorney Wes Mau said will eliminate some of the inefficiencies in the current system. 

“This is essentially the first step in one of the priorities that our criminal justice commission has set,” Mau said.

Mau said the software company will simply implement and set up a part of the Odyssey software package the county already uses to coordinate data within the criminal justice system. Mau said that the software will allow cases to be filed at a particular court when a person is initially booked into the county jail. It would create a digital file for magistration paperwork and other information to be filed.

“It will assign the case to a court at that initial jailing,” Mau said. “... That will allow the DA’s office to assign prosecutors that are assigned to that court.”

Mau also noted that the software system will randomly assign cases to courts, meaning that there is no chance that anyone will be able to choose or influence which cases go to which judges.

“It’s going to be more fair and will give the appearance of more fairness,” he said, adding that the system will also help to make sure that the judges have equal caseloads. 

Mau mentioned the amount of time that some Hays County residents have to wait between their jail booking and the date when their cases are taken to court – some spend a month or two in the county jail awaiting a court date – and noted that the $14,645 price tag for the software is a fraction of what the county spends in a week on outsourcing inmates, including those awaiting trial.

“We’d essentially end up paying well over what this would cost us over a very short period of time,” he said.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Debbie Gonzales Ingalsbe noted that it sounds like the software system would get rid of some of the inefficiencies in the criminal justice system. County Judge Ruben Becerra also praised the idea.

“Thank you for taking, as you said, this very first step,” Becerra told Mau. “... You have nailed it by saying the cost of the expense … is merely one day’s outsourcing. And so the reinvestment, the recapture of revenue lost … is so important.”

Becerra noted that the purchase will help the district attorney’s office, the judges and other people and offices that are part of the county’s criminal justice system.

“It’s also taking care of our citizenry,” Becerra said.

Mau thanked Becerra for his focus on streamlining the county’s criminal justice system.

“These efficiencies have to be improved or we’re going to be creating a system that is not working as well as it should,” Mau said, “and we can’t afford that right now.”