The first meeting was held Tuesday for a Dallas County Commissioners Court that is now all Democratic, as the last Republican took his new post as a judge in the criminal courthouse.
Republican J. J. Koch, a former prosecutor, was appointed to the felony court seat by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott after redistricting stacked the deck against his reelection as a commissioner.
He is now the only GOP judge in Dallas County, a role he also had as the last remaining GOP commissioner.
Koch now gets to practice the dedication he and other commissioners called for to handle cases faster. He says he appreciates getting the chance to serve in this new role.
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“Doing the work is different, but I think as far as the policy piece, what has to be done in order to make sure we relieve pressure on the jails and doing the right thing regarding justice, I don’t think those principals will ever change,” Koch said. “Everyone in the criminal justice system needs to work as efficiently as possible to make sure that you don't have justice delayed being justice denied.”
County commissioners hold the purse strings for courts and jails, but they have limited control over management.
The Dallas County Jail currently has about 1,000 inmates more than before the COVID-19 pandemic. The added population is a combination of federal immigration detainees, inmates who should be in state prison or state mental institutions and cases pending trial before judges.
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John Wiley Price, who has been a Dallas County Commissioner for 38 years, said misdemeanor judges have mostly caught up with backlogs.
“The felony court judges, not so much. And so, we still have an expectation of performance,” Price said.
The extra inmates cost Dallas County taxpayers about $4 million a month.
Dallas County officials also want the State of Texas to accept about 400 inmates deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and should be in the care of state mental institutions.
Democrat Andy Sommerman, who replaced Koch, voiced a Democratic argument about Republican state officials in his first Commissioners Court meeting.
“The State of Texas has shipped other individuals, and I'm talking about undocumented workers, all across the country for whatever their political purposes are,’ Sommerman said. “And they haven’t spent any of those dollars to take care of people who’ve been deemed incompetent who’ve been accused of crimes. And those victims of those crimes are not being given their day in court.”
Price was once the only Democratic commissioner in Dallas County. He said he hopes the new harmony lasts.
“There are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, just issues and we'll see,” Price said.
Price and Koch were sometimes allies on issues including judicial performance and COVID-19, despite their political party differences.
“My job now is to make sure that what I'm in charge of in avoiding those problems is pristine. I’m going to make sure whatever I do helps alleviate those problems,” Koch said.
Judge Nancy Kennedy who preceded Koch in Dallas County Criminal District Court 2 had a very good performance record. Koch said the staff is that court is excellent and any decline in performance will be on him.
“It’s a bit of pressure but I’ve never been afraid of pressure and enjoy the opportunity to prove we can get things done down here should we work hard,” Koch said.
Judge Kennedy was elected to an appellate court bench in November.
