Wearing T-shirts with such slogans as “Down with Mercy!” and “Too much Justice!” a small group of masked district attorneys stormed the 299th Judicial District Court of Travis County today to demand Presiding Judge Charles “Charlie” Baird end his general practice of not revoking people who violate their conditions of community supervision. Disguised behind a Richard Nixon mask, the apparent leader pled with Baird to “send one more person, just one more person to prison, please. Too many people are leaving here happy,” she said. “It’s eerie.” A quartet of other prosecutors briefly chanted, “Hey, hey, don’t forgive, send them to prison as an alternative,” before quickly dashing from the courtroom in evident embarrassment of their poorly-conceived cheer.
The event was the latest reflection of frustration with Baird’s high degree of mercy in his court. “The kindness, the empathy, it’s all too much,” complained one prosecutor. “What’s next? Love your enemies?”
Baird was non-plussed and simply continued his admonishment to a defendant before wishing him well. As a bonus, the judge also miraculously cured the defendant’s blindness.
Experts worry that Baird’s policy may impact the system beyond his court. “If other judges begin behaving this way, it could shake the foundations of justice,” said Rupert Votetta, executive director of the Center for Judicial Stability and Non-Change. Already the Travis County Department of Community Supervision has fewer people to supervise as a result of Baird’s liberal discharge policy. “I have so many fewer probationers, I am now having actual conversations with the people I supervise,” complained probation officer Silveria Veitenheimer.
Fewer revocations have also resulted in fewer prison sentences. “The real fear is that we won’t have enough people to fill our prisons,” predicted Votetta, sweating profusely. “We may be looking at incarcerating only three to a cell, giving inmates all this outrageous walking-around room.”
At the closing of the Dreary Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice last month, a tearful warden told the remaining 15 guards they would have to find other work. “Judge Charlie Baird did this to you,” intoned the warden. “And I guess ol’ Vic here goes free,” he said with disgust, referencing Victor “Vic” Smedley, the only remaining inmate at the prison facility. Smedley was the longest-serving inmate for his graffiti spree committed in the 1980's, during which he spray-painted “Frodo Lives!” at construction sites and scribed the woefully out-dated phrase “Keep on Truckin’” on concrete slabs.
Baird shows no sign he will change his policy, saying he wants the defendants who come before him to succeed. Others still quietly disapprove. “He just doesn’t understand the system,” said one probation officer who asked to remain anonymous. “He can’t see that a discharged probationer is really a prisoner who got away.”
