Post by pavel on Apr 21, 2016 5:01:01 GMT -6
Lawsuit filed against Ascension Parish court over “conviction fee” that partially pays for judge salary
Public interest lawyers who sued an Ascension Parish Court judge last year over how her court’s bail system unfairly affected the poor have now taken aim at a “conviction fee” she imposes on defendants found guilty of minor offenses.
In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Baton Rouge on behalf of Gonzales-area resident Richard Williams, the lawyers claim the fee poses a conflict of interest for Judge Marilyn Lambert, and they allege the state laws related to the fee are unconstitutional.
State law authorizes the $15 conviction fee, and the fees are deposited into what’s called the judicial expense fund, which Lambert controls. A little more than one-third of that fund’s revenues, $136,480, came from conviction fees last fiscal year.
But state law also provides that part of Lambert’s salary should come from the fund.
“This arrangement creates impermissible incentives for the parish judge to find people guilty, because no conviction fee is extracted when she finds a defendant not guilty,” the lawsuit by the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center in New Orleans alleges.
Read more: theadvocate.com/news/15543653-48/lawsuit-filed-against-ascension-parish-court-over-conviction-fee-that-partially-pays-for-judge-salar
Public interest lawyers who sued an Ascension Parish Court judge last year over how her court’s bail system unfairly affected the poor have now taken aim at a “conviction fee” she imposes on defendants found guilty of minor offenses.
In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Baton Rouge on behalf of Gonzales-area resident Richard Williams, the lawyers claim the fee poses a conflict of interest for Judge Marilyn Lambert, and they allege the state laws related to the fee are unconstitutional.
State law authorizes the $15 conviction fee, and the fees are deposited into what’s called the judicial expense fund, which Lambert controls. A little more than one-third of that fund’s revenues, $136,480, came from conviction fees last fiscal year.
But state law also provides that part of Lambert’s salary should come from the fund.
“This arrangement creates impermissible incentives for the parish judge to find people guilty, because no conviction fee is extracted when she finds a defendant not guilty,” the lawsuit by the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center in New Orleans alleges.
Read more: theadvocate.com/news/15543653-48/lawsuit-filed-against-ascension-parish-court-over-conviction-fee-that-partially-pays-for-judge-salar