Legislation increasing penalty for removing ankle monitors is 'not a big ask', says State Rep. Anchia

When state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, first heard that the man who shot and killed a nurse and a social worker at Dallas Methodist Hospital had just been released from jail for attempting to cut off his ankle monitor, he was surprised that he had not been sent back to prison. Court records (and a state investigation) would later show that Nestor Hernandez had been given at least second and third chances after violating the terms of his parole. He first violated his curfew, and then attempted to cut off his ankle monitor. For the latter, he spent 100 days in jail, and was released on September 28, 2022. On October 20, a little over three weeks later, he began shooting at Methodist Dallas Medical Center while visiting his girlfriend and new baby. He is accused of killing hospital employees Katie Flowers and Jacqueline Pokuaa. Hernandez has been charged with two counts of capital murder. Anchia says he will soon file legislation that will make it a felony for a parolee to remove or attempt to remove their ankle monitor. His bill would also send the offender back to prison to complete the remainder of their sentence.

“You know, I thought it was massively illegal—I thought what I’m trying to do was already the law,” Anchia says. “By taking the ankle monitor off, you break the law, and I thought the law was that there’s an immediate revocation of your parole.” The lawmaker, whose district includes the hospital where the shooting took place, says that he also plans to file a bill that would require parole offices to inform the hospital’s chief law enforcement official (or the chief of police if the hospital does not have its own police force) if a violent offender who is on parole intends to visit their campus. “What was also shocking is that there was no affirmative obligation on the part of the Board of Pardons and Paroles to let the hospital know that a violent criminal was going to be visiting the hospital,” Anchia said. That sentiment was first voiced in the days after the shooting. “I wish that we would’ve known—but that is not some information that was provided to us beforehand,” said Glen Fowler, Methodist Health System’s police chief. A report filed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles found that one of Hernandez’s six parole violations happened the day of the shooting. That one was withdrawn after investigators said he had gone to the hospital for the birth of his child.