Sorry, but this amounts to an illegal taking. "No person shall be deprived of Life, Liberty, or Property without due process of law."
If you can be charged for the prosecution building a case even if you are found 'not guilty' by the jury, no person is safe, no home, no bank account, no one.
Anyone could be extensively investigated and then tried for any crime, exonnerated, and then handed a bill for however much the jurisdiction claimed to spend--a bill that would be sure to strip you of all your assets.
Like the results or not, this is wrong.
We’re talking apples and oranges here.
She was found not guilty of the murder charges.
She was found guilty of lying to law enforcement.
She is NOT being given a bill for the cost of the criminal trial.
She is being given a bill for amounts spent by law enforcement searching for the little girl, before this trial ever began.
Remember that the defense testimony was that the little girl drowned in the swimming pool, and in some panic, the grandpa disposed of the body. This was their sworn legal testimony. Since their sworn legal testimony is that the little girl drowned and was never kidnapped, and never a missing person, that is why she is getting this fine.
This fine is not trying to recover the costs of the trial. It is to recover the costs incurred because she sent police on a fruitless search for a little girl who was not kidnapped.
We’re talking apples and oranges here.
She was found not guilty of the murder charges.
She was found guilty of lying to law enforcement.
She is NOT being given a bill for the cost of the criminal trial.
She is being given a bill for amounts spent by law enforcement searching for the little girl, before this trial ever began.
Remember that the defense testimony was that the little girl drowned in the swimming pool, and in some panic, the grandpa disposed of the body. This was their sworn legal testimony. Since their sworn legal testimony is that the little girl drowned and was never kidnapped, and never a missing person, that is why she is getting this fine.
This fine is not trying to recover the costs of the trial. It is to recover the costs incurred because she sent police on a fruitless search for a little girl who was not kidnapped.