Harris County murder defendant allegedly cuts off ankle monitor before trial

Harris County murder defendant Walter Pozos allegedly cut off his court-ordered GPS ankle monitor just before his murder trial was set to begin, raising fresh questions about how closely the county is watching violent defendants released on bond.

Pozos, 32, had been free on a total of $35,000 bond since October. His trial was scheduled to start last Wednesday, but the monitor began generating tamper alerts early Monday morning, two days before the case was supposed to be called. That timing suggests the supervision system was already flagging trouble before Pozos formally failed to appear.

The case is back in the spotlight after a mistrial was declared in February when jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict. Pozos now faces the same underlying charge tied to a July 15, 2023 crash in Harris County that killed a passenger and injured another person.

Investigators have said the crash began on Sam Houston Parkway in Humble, where Harris County sheriff’s deputies reported that Pozos was racing at more than 100 mph and refused to pull over before the pursuit ended in a wreck. The alleged monitor removal makes the case more than a bond dispute. It is another example of a defendant in a fatal crash case allegedly trying to sidestep court supervision while awaiting trial.

The incident is likely to draw scrutiny from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, judges and pretrial officials because it comes during a month in which another Harris County murder defendant also allegedly cut off a GPS monitor before trial. Two similar cases in the same month point to a deeper question: whether the county’s current release conditions and response procedures are strong enough for serious felony defendants.

Harris County Pretrial Services says its mission is to provide accurate and timely information to judicial officers making pretrial release decisions, to monitor defendants on bond, and to support public safety. Its FAQ says staff monitor compliance with release conditions and report noncompliance to the court. In Pozos’s case, those safeguards were in place on paper. The question now is whether they worked quickly enough, and whether judges and prosecutors need tighter conditions, faster responses to tamper alerts or more restrictive release terms in murder cases to keep a defendant from cutting off a monitor and vanishing before trial.