Qualifications: What training, experience and characteristics qualify you for this position?
ISSUES: What are the two (2) most pressing issues that you will face in the office that you seek? Describe your specific plans/ideas for addressing these issues.
Andrew A. Wright
I have extensive misdemeanor (and felony) experience throughout Harris and many other counties. I was a criminal defense attorney for approximately ten years (2009 – 2019, when I took the bench). In those ten years I tried cases from Galveston to Fort Collins, Colorado. I was very involved in many local defense bar associations as well. I had a very heavy indigent defense docket and was on the appointment lists in Harris, Galveston and Fort Bend Counties. I am board certified in Criminal Law since 2020. Since being on the bench, I have worked very hard to keep my docket manageable and tried many cases, over 100 as a judge. I know the law and can efficiently handle a docket.
One pressing issue is making sure the O'Donnell consent decree stays in place. Currently there are efforts to dismantle that agreement which will set Harris County back and force mass incarceration of too many people. Keeping low level offenders out of the Harris County jail is smart from a fiscal standpoint as well as community standpoint. I think what we created in that decree is the right thing and hope to see it upheld in the future. A second pressing issue is to make sure that the timelines on each case are not too long so that the community and defendants feel as their cases are not being handled professionally and efficiently.
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