Ogg Donor Secured Bail For Accused HCSO Deputy Shooter

As Houston Watch reported earlier today, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg’s office showed leniency to the man accused of shooting a sheriff’s deputy last night. At the time of the shooting, Mr. Terran Green—who is accused of shooting Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph Anderson—was out on bond and on the run after failing to appear for a court date. 

So, why was he out in the community?

When bonds are set in criminal cases, a bondsman has to make a decision around whether the person who is facing charges is a safety risk or not. If the bondsman thinks they are low risk, or if the bondsman is more concerned about profit than safety, the bondsman will agree to act as a surety—in essence serving as insurance that the person will return to court. At the time of last night’s shooting of Deputy Anderson, Mr. Green was out on bail on charges of aggravated assault of a family member—he allegedly picked up a rifle, pointed it in his girlfriend’s face, and screamed “I’m going to end you”—and being a felon in possession of a weapon. 

The bail bondsman who made the decision to secure Mr. Green’s bond is Mr. Wisam Muharib, one of Harris County’s most well known bail bondsman. And, as Houston Watch has reported previously, Mr. Muharib is also a donor to D.A. Kim Ogg. 

In fact, several members of Muharib’s family have close ties to D.A. Ogg’s office. Ogg even appointed Mr. Muharib’s brother—who is also a repeat donor to the District Attorney—to her transition team to help her guide bail policy for the District Attorney’s Office.

This is not the first controversy in which the Muharib bail family has been ensnared. As Houston Watch previously reported, the Muharib family operate multiple Houston-area bail bonds companies and are big players in the bail bonds business, per data from the Harris County Justice Administration Department. They also have a stunning track-record of bailing out the violent and the dangerous. No one should be in jail simply because they can’t afford to purchase their freedom. But the Muharibs aren’t just bailing out people accused of low level or non-violent offenses who are short on cash. The Muharibs together have enabled the release of an accused murderer in over one hundred cases (including a man accused of killing a police officer), according to Harris County District Clerk records. 

When you’re running for office, the people who you allow to support your campaign tell the public something about your values. When the values of a candidate don’t align with the values of a donor, candidates usually give the money back. For example, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez did just that—returning $20,000 in campaign donations from a donor linked to a lawmaker who was indicted in an insurance fraud case.  

But there’s no record that D.A. Ogg has returned the donations from Mr. Muharib, and Ms. Ogg has refused to respond to media inquiries into the matter. Indeed, Houston Watch reached out to D.A. Ogg today—in light of the fact that Mr. Muharib secured the release of the man who is accused of shooting Deputy Anderson—to ask whether she plans to give the donation back; and, separately, whether she will refuse to accept future donations from Mr. Muharib. Again, Ogg offered no response.