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Residents at Pasadena council meeting allege missing records, question 1970s–90s in‑custody deaths
Summary
Two residents used public comment to claim missing docket books and raise doubts about multiple in‑custody deaths in Harris County during the 1970s–1990s, calling for investigation and for the council to act.
At the Aug. 19 Pasadena City Council meeting several residents used the public‑comment portion to allege historical failures in custody record‑keeping and to call for investigations into in‑custody deaths.
Richard Collins described the 1976 arrest and jail death of a man he identified as "Danny Stevens," saying autopsy photos and scene descriptions led him to doubt the official suicide finding. Collins told the council he plans to "get an autopsy done by an outsider" and said there were no cameras in the jail in 1976 to corroborate official accounts.
Eric Sanchez expanded the allegation, saying that large numbers of Harris County docket books from 1976–78 and other years are missing and that those books "would establish the victims of all the in custody hangings throughout Harris County." Sanchez told the council the missing books (he described them as "at least 16 2.5‑inch thick books" weighing roughly 40 pounds) are the only way to determine whether people were lawfully detained. He urged the council to investigate or otherwise pursue the matter.
Both commenters linked gaps in records and missing docket books to a pattern of suspicious in‑custody deaths in later years; Sanchez asserted that records from the Justice of the Peace court and jail dockets were absent for key dates. The speakers presented these as allegations and urged official review; there is no record in the Aug. 19 transcript of the council initiating an investigation or taking formal action in response.
The council did not respond with a directive at the meeting; items on the agenda later moved forward (including routine resolutions and personnel items), and the meeting concluded after an executive session and votes on the suspension appeal.
Because these are allegations presented during public comment, they remain unresolved in the meeting record. Journalists and officials seeking to verify the claims should request the specific docket volumes and examine Harris County archival records, coroner/autopsy files, and court dockets for the dates cited.
