Repeat arrests spark pretrial release review by Douglas County officials

Douglas County’s sheriff says one repeat offender shows why pre-trial release needs to change. Corrections says the program still works for most people.

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Douglas County officials discuss pre-trial release after repeat offender’s arrests

The Douglas County sheriff and corrections director are addressing concerns over pre-trial release programs, citing the case of a repeat offender as a key example.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Neb. —

The Douglas County Sheriff says there needs to be a change when it comes to pre-trial release, pointing to one man who’s been in and out of jail while on the program. But the director of Douglas County Corrections says that man does not represent the majority of people on pre-trial release.

Since April 2025, Sheriff Aaron Hanson said Martin Anderson Jr. has spent a lot of time inside the Douglas County Jail.

“April of 2025, Martin Anderson Jr. was arrested for serious gun charges,'” Hanson said.

Hanson said Anderson was involved in a drive-by shooting and is a felon, so he wasn’t supposed to have a gun in the first place.

“He was released from Douglas County Corrections pending his trial, after paying ten percent of $500,000 bond, so $50,000,” Hanson said.

A judge placed Anderson on pre-trial release supervision.

“From that time, every few months, Martin Anderson Jr. again would be arrested, whether it was for driving during revocation when he shouldn’t have been or domestic violence on women or false imprisonment on women,” Hanson said.

Douglas County Director of Corrections Michael Myers said the alleged domestic violence assault happened in March 2026.

“But police were not called at the time of the incident, so there was no knowledge of it by law enforcement or by corrections until a warrant was issued for his arrest in April,” Myers said.

When it comes to pre-trial release, Hanson said Anderson’s repeated arrests show that something needs to change. He said deputies and police officers need to have a greater role in supervision.

“The criminal justice system as a whole needs to do a better job of identifying these high-risk, repeat offenders,” Hanson told KETV Investigates.

But Myers said the jail’s pre-trial supervision program has shown success since it was revamped a few years ago. It includes a 24/7 sobriety program where people have to go in every 12 hours for breathalyzer tests. GPS monitoring can also be put in place.

“We do share information with law enforcement. If they have a question about somebody’s whereabouts at a certain place and time, we work with the courts to be able to authorize the release of that information, and that has led to arrests of individuals who’ve committed criminal acts,” Myers said.

Myers said on average, about 1,500 people a day are on pre-trial release. In the previous year that ended on June 30, a total of 2,776 people were put on pre-trial release by the courts.

“An individual is on pre-trial release for about six months on average as their case works its way through the court system,” Myers said.

He also said 98% of people on pre-trial release have remained arrest-free — 99% have remained free from any violent offenses.

“We estimate that it saves the county probably somewhere in the range of $8-9 million annually over the cost of operating the Department of Corrections if we detained all of those individuals,” Myers said.

When it comes to conversations and new ideas, Myers said corrections is always open to exploring that.

“We want to look at ways that we can actually make the community safer,” Myers said.

Myers also said failure to appear rates are down.

Hanson said he wants state lawmakers to take a look at pre-trial laws and see if they can make changes.