Unhinged Houston judge decides to recall all misdemeanor warrants in his district

HOUSTON, TX - An unhinged Houston judge has taken it upon himself to recall all outstanding warrants in his court, Fox 26 in Houston reports. The cases involve thousands of traffic citations, evictions, and other misdemeanors. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear felony cases are affected. 

Judge Steven Duble, who became Harris County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 in 2023, made the bizarre decision last month, completely confusing reporters and political figures alike. 

“I’ve never seen this happen in the 37 years I’ve been doing this,” said Fox 26 Senior Legal Analyst Chris Tritico. 

“My reaction was, this is nuts,” said State Sen. Paul Bettencourt. 

“It’s exactly what shouldn’t happen by a judge in the 21st Century,” Bettencourt said. 

Duble’s decision has been called “unprecedented” and could result in no fines or jail time for thousands of defendants charged with Class C misdemeanors, traffic citations, and evictions. 

On August 22, Duble drafted a letter to Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen’s staff, writing, “After extensive research and thoughtful consideration, I have decided to recall each and every outstanding warrant from this court.” 

“It’s strange that you have a situation where a judge is issuing a blanket order that affects every warrant in his court with no explanation,” Tritico said. “They may all have cases pending in there that have now been let go.” 

Under Texas law, judges are permitted to recall warrants, however, Duble’s action appears to be unprecedented, and for one, Bettencourt doesn’t believe he is legally allowed to do so. 

“The law may not be as clear because no one’s been quite frankly crazy enough to do this until now,” Bettencourt said. 

Fox 26 received a statement in response to Duble’s action:

“We only recently were made aware of Judge Duble’s inexplicable decision to grant fugitives a free pass in his courtroom. This decision can endanger the lives of the public and of our law enforcement officers. Accountability is fundamental to justice, and without it, the public loses faith in our entire judicial system.” 

In attempting to justify his decision, Duble cited an advisory from the Biden/Harris Department of Justice that “cautioned against discriminatory enforcement of fines and fees, and detailed obligations to comply with federal statutory prohibitions against discrimination in the imposition and collection of fines and fees by conducting an ability to pay determination prior to imposing any period of incarceration.” 

With that in mind, Duble said that after “extensive research on these issues,” he would recall “all outstanding class C misdemeanor arrest warrants issued by Justice of the Peace Court, Precinct 1, Place 2.” Duble claimed that “the recall of arrest warrants does not dismiss any charges.” 

Duble claimed “the cost to taxpayers of having officers arrest, transport, and process someone at the Harris County jail on a warrant arising from a class C misdemeanor, only to have them released hours later with the fine and court costs written off as ‘satisfied by jail credit’ is far more than the unpaid fine itself.” He further asserted that “the recall was ordered to comply with the Constitution,” which is absurd. 

Hopefully, a higher court occupied by judges with a remote understanding of our legal system and how the Constitution works will overturn this decision. 

Duble’s letter may be read here.