On Tuesday, July 13, 2021, a unanimous Commissioners Court passed a resolution calling on county court at law judges to temporarily hear domestic violence cases to ease a backlog of more than 5,600 cases. Within 24 hours, 11 of 13 county court at law judges have signed up to hear cases.
“Now that three more county court at law judges have agreed to help their peers with these misdemeanor family violence cases, we have Bexar County in a better position to help these survivors. It’s not every day that people step up and ask for more work so these judges deserve to be recognized. I also must thank Commissioner DeBerry for her support on this complicated issue. She saw the problem, asked those of us directly involved with it for input and has made this a priority for Bexar County. Although, we still have much work to do in addressing the massive volume of misdemeanor family violence cases in our courts, this is a big step in the right direction,” said District Attorney Joe Gonzales.
11 of the 13 County Court at Law Judges have signed up to alleviate the backlog within 24 hours.