The son of Rosalie Cook, the grandmother who was killed while walking to her car in a Walgreens parking lot on May 16, 2020, is pressing to hold judges and the criminal justice system accountable for his mother's fatal death. Cook died at the hospital; meanwhile, Randy Lewis, the suspect, was shot and killed by police at the scene; he had been arrested at least 67 times before the incident.
Cook, 80 years old back then, was walking back to her car in a Walgreens parking lot just before 10:00 am after having purchased birthday cards. Lewis reportedly pushed her to the ground and stabbed her to death. He was out on two felony personal recognizance (PR) bonds, which don't require cash to get out of jail, but restrictions such as GPS monitoring or drug testing were imposed.
According to Crime Stoppers of Houston, Cook was among at least 156 people who have been murdered since 2018 by offenders out on multiple bonds in Harris County, Texas.
Local bail practices changed after officials settled a lawsuit stating that most people accused of misdemeanors do not have to pay cash or large sums to get out of jail. The defendants who supposedly remain in prison pending trial have been released back out on the streets where some have violently re-offended, stated Rania Mankarious, CEO of Crime Stoppers of Houston.
"If I could sue a judge, I would do it," Cook's son, Chuck Cook, told Fox News. "There is no accountability. There's just a lot of fronts that I'm really angry about in terms of the (criminal justice) system."
The victim's son described Cook, "She was disabled. She shuffled with a cane. She was the prototypical grandmother, reading glasses down on her nose, knitting needles by the side of her rocking chair." "If Randy Lewis was still in the system today, I have no confidence that justice would be served," he added.
Though the grieving son takes comfort in knowing that Lewis cannot get out of jail on another bond and hurt someone else anymore, other victims' families are still stuck in the court system that has been essentially shut down since the beginning of the pandemic.
In May ABC13 reported that the backlog of cases in felony court was found to have grown 66% since March 2020.
