December 2023 Parole Newsletter
- December 21, 2023
- Parole, Parole Newsletter
- The Law Office of Greg Tsioros
- Comments Off on December 2023 Parole Newsletter
| Gregory Tsioros | ||
| Attorney at Law 2016 Main Street, Suite 102 Houston, Texas 77002 |
||
| Telephone: 832.752.5972 | Website: www.texasparole.com | Fax: 713.529.9207 |
Thank you for writing to The Law Office of James Randall Smith & Gregory Tsioros (The Office) and requesting this newsletter. If you are interested in knowing what is occurring regarding the Parole Board, TDCJ, inmate rumors, new case law, or other information impacting the inmate population on a current basis, I advise you to have your family or loved ones go to the web page www.texasparole.com and www.txparolelaw.com and print out a copy of this newsletter and/or past newsletters and send it to you by J-Pay, or you may be able to go to the webpages on your tablets. The Office, because of the difficulty with the new TDCJ rules regarding mailing letters to inmates, will no longer be sending the newsletter out by mail. This will be the last one. From now on, you must go to the webpages listed above and get the newsletter which will be updated twice a year in June-July and December-January of each year.
PAROLE BOARD OFFICES AND BOARD MEMBER INFORMATION
This last year has seen a major change in who has been appointed and assigned to the various Parole Board Offices. In the over 30+ years The Office has represented inmates before the Parole Board, there never has been as many changes in the make-up of the different Parole Boards. The changes have continued since the last newsletter went out in June/July. Two more commissioners have been replaced.
ANGLETON BOARD
Joel Butler replaced Ira Evans. He has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Houston and a membership in the Alpha Phi Sigma Criminal Justice Honor Society and has 25 years in the Criminal Justice profession as a Parole Officer and Unit Supervisor for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, as a Hearing Officer, Regional Operations Supervisor for the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
(A personal observation from James Randall Smith: I have known Mr. Butler for almost 25 years. He was a Hearing Officer on many of the Parole Revocation Hearings I have had trying to save my clients from a return trip to prison. My partner, Gregory Tsioros, has known him for over 10 years when he represented parolees before him on revocation hearings. We have both appeared before him since he has become a commissioner, and he is still the same individual he was as a Hearing Officer. He is a no-nonsense type of individual who has read the inmate’s file and our parole package prior to the Parole Board Appearance. He expects attorneys to be prepared and know their client and the facts, and he wants to discuss these facts at the Parole Board Appearance.)
HUNTSVILLE BOARD
Alfredo Salcido has replaced Michael Adams. Mr. Salcido has an Associate of Applied Science in Criminal Justice from Central Texas College and 35 years in the Law Enforcement profession. (Gregory Tsioros and James Randall Smith have had several Parole Board Appearances with him, and feel that he seems to be concerned with the effect that the revolving door inmate population tends to have on TDCJ and was very knowledgeable of what needs to be done to stop this revolving door.)
DISTURBING INFORMATION
For years most protests by inmates before the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole has come from family members of the victim, or the victim, but not from trial officials. What The Office is now seeing is protests from trial officials such as the District Attorney’s Office and Law Enforcement. This is evident when a Possession of Drug case is being protested or a DWI case is being protested. The protests are not coming just from Harris County or Montgomery County who have been protesting DWI, Evading Arrest, and Intoxicated Assault and Manslaughter cases for some time, but from other Texas counties throughout the state.
PAROLE BOARD MEMBERS OVERALL RELEASE RATES FOR 2023 – AUGUST
| BOARD | MEMBER | RELEASE RATE | COMM’R | RELEASE RATE | COMM’R | RELEASE RATE | COMM’R | RELEASE RATE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amarillo Board | Elodia Brito | 38.3% | Edward Davila | 37.0% | Jeffrey Marton | 41.5% | ||
| Angleton Board | Marsha Moberley | 36.8% | Joel Butler | 36.0% | Sandra Fletcher | 37.5% | ||
| Austin Board | Ed Robertson | 28.0% | Troy Fox | 27.9% | Richard Aiello | 32.9% | Mary Farley | 34.7% |
| Gatesville Board | David Gutierrez | 41.5% | Lee Ann Massingill | 38.4% | Roel Tejada | 40.5% | ||
| Huntsville Board | Carmella Jones | 36.6% | Alfredo Salcido | 46.6% | Michael Adams | 47.1% | ||
| Palestine Board | Brian Long | 26.3% | Paul Kiel | 27.6% | Jacqueline Bishop | 28.3% | ||
| San Antonio Board | Linda Molina | 30.9% | Raymond Gonzalez | 33.3% | Anthony Ramirez | 27.6% |
RUMORS
RUMOR: The Office has received phone calls from various clients, as well as numerous letters telling us there has been a change in the law which required ½ of the sentence to be served prior to being eligible for parole was changed in the Special Session of the Texas Legislature to a 1/3 sentence requirement.
FALSE: The 4 Special Sessions of the Texas Legislature since June 2023 have all dealt with school funding matters and had nothing to do with criminal law. There has been no change in the law regarding crimes where individuals must serve ½ of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
RUMOR: The Special Session of the Texas Legislature passed a law to reduce overcrowding and TDCJ will now give 2-3 days credit for every day served in prison toward a reduction of an inmate’s sentence.
FALSE: The 4 Special Sessions of the Texas Legislature since June 2023 have all dealt with school funding matters and had nothing to do with criminal law.
RUMOR: Sending in a petition with a lot of names on it will get an inmate released to parole.
FALSE: The Board Members we have talked to do not like petitions. The Members prefer individual letters written by someone who knows the inmate and can explain to the board members what they personally know about the inmate.
Please do not send any of your documentation to The Office prior to retaining us. If you do, we will not return the documents unless you pay for the return postage.