Posted on 06/23/2016 4:36:26 PM PDT by BBell
When poor defendants guilty of minor crimes enter Bogalusa Judge Robert Black's courtroom, they are often met with no quarter, according to a federal lawsuit that accuses Black of running an illegal "modern-day debtors' prison."
It's pay the fine or immediately begin jail time, with little room to negotiate for those who can't afford to pay.
The Southern Poverty Law Center sued Black Tuesday (June 21) in federal court in New Orleans in an attempt to halt that policy, which its lawyers called unconstitutional. They're representing four impoverished defendants worried they'll run afoul of Black at their upcoming hearings.
"Our clients are terrified that they're going to go to jail," SPLC attorney Micah West said.
Black wouldn't comment Tuesday, saying he wanted time to study the SPLC's accusations.
"It's all brand-new news to me," he said.
The SPLC is applying for class-action status as it seeks to recoup what defendants have been forced to pay under the court's policies for fines.
The lawsuit's goals appear two-fold. The SPLC is asking a federal judge to block Black from sending defendants directly to jail if they can't pay, and to put a permanent end to the judge's practice of granting payment extensions only if defendants fork over $50 on the spot.
The SPLC called Black's extension fee illegal because it appears he created it out of thin air. It doesn't exist in state law and it doesn't have the necessary approval of the state Supreme Court, West said.
But the crux of the SPLC's case rests on the Constitution's 14th Amendment, which governs due process and equal protection rights in the justice system.
According to the lawsuit, Black doesn't ask whether a defendant can pay a fine - a requirement imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case in the early
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
If the SPLC is involved, you can be sure there is MORE to the story.
I wonder what it is.
this is peonage, or rather judicial slavery. many southern states used it after the civil war.
I’m seriously confused. Black Tuesday is June 21st?
i hate Morris Dees and the SPLC, but we do have judicial tyranny in the country. if you’ve ever been called to jury duty, you’ve seen it yourself. these judges act like despots in their courts and go unchallenged by any of the other parties who must routinely appear, for fear of some backlash at a later date.
this is NOT what the founding fathers envisioned.
Dees had pretty much gone nuts by the 90’s — however sometimes the blind squirrel still finds an acorn.
“you can be sure there is MORE to the story”’
In this country the poor have become the wall to wall priviliged class
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