HARRIS COUNTY, Texas—A Harris County judge is being questioned after he drastically reduced the bail amount of a deputy accused of stealing drugs and reselling them.
Houston police arrested veteran Harris County Sheriff Deputy Richard Nutt Wednesday in a drug sting in East Houston after he was caught with nearly 4.5 pounds of cocaine.
However, Nutt has already been released from jail after Judge Kevin Fine reduced his bond by 90 percent.
"He’s a very good judge, but he’s more of a maverick," said 11 News Legal Analyst Gerald Treece about Fine. "He seems to just kind of do things his own way and that’s OK. Texas has a lot of maverick judges in it, but maverick judges still have to follow the law."
Nutt’s alleged co-conspirators stayed in jail with no bond, yet Nutt’s bond was reduced from $200,000 to $20,000.
Treece and other experts are not just questioning how much the bond was reduced by, but how Fine made the ruling.
"He reduced the bond without having the district attorney’s office present," said Treece. "That’s a violation of our criminal procedure code in Texas."
Treece said Texas law says Fine had to notify prosecutors before reducing Nutt’s bail.
"You just simply can’t reduce a bond on an issue when a gun’s involved, when a weapon’s involved, without having the DA present," said Treece.
Nicole DeBorde, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, says the judge made a genuine mistake.
"I don’t think that he realized he was acting outside the bounds of Texas court criminal procedure," said DeBorde.
DeBorde said it’s quite common for a judge to speak to only one party due to the fast-paced nature of court.
"I think very much more likely is the idea that he made a mistake, not realizing that there was an enhancement involving what we call a 3G offense, or a gun, changing it to this little used section of the code prohibiting judges from doing that without involving all the parties."
It is now up to the DA’s office to determine if it will file a complaint against Fine.
Meanwhile, Nutt likely faces another bond hearing which could put him back behind bars.
