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In the wrong place at the wrong time? Tough luck, says the state of Colorado. If you are arrested the police will charge you a $25 booking fee. If you can't pay on the spot, don't worry, they'll bill you. Even if charges are dismissed, or you are aquitted, you still pay a price! But fear not, if you can prove you are innocent (beyond reasonable doubt) you can get your money back. This is not something new, but something that people should be aware of.
Charon writes:
There is a case before the US Supreme Court, Nelson v. Colorado, which will be argued on Jan. 9, regarding the difficulty of getting fees and penalties refunded when defendants are found innocent.
And it's not just Colorado. Another case from Minnesota:
Corey Statham had $46 in his pockets when he was arrested in Ramsey County, Minn., and charged with disorderly conduct. He was released two days later, and the charges were dismissed.
But the county kept $25 of Mr. Statham's money as a "booking fee." It returned the remaining $21 on a debit card subject to an array of fees. In the end, it cost Mr. Statham $7.25 to withdraw what was left of his money.
The Supreme Court will soon consider whether to hear Mr. Statham's challenge to Ramsey County's fund-raising efforts, which are part of a national trend to extract fees and fines from people who find themselves enmeshed in the criminal justice system.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 29 2016, @07:01PM
Ya, that will hold up after the first suit. ACLU will be all over this one.
Idiots.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @04:01AM
I had a friend who got in a motorcycle accident while he was a novice, broke his collarbone in the crash.
Anyway, while waiting for the tow truck to come pick up him and his bike, a cop runs across him and asks if he needs any help. Fast forward to a month later and he's still out of work with his arm in a sling, and what should come in the mail? A ticket from the officer in question citing him for speeding (unsigned by him, the 'guilty' party since it wasn't written at the 'scene of the crime'.) Being an up and up guy he shows up at court on the appointed day. The clerk tells him that the ticket was invalid since he hadn't signed it, and he SHOULD have just ignored it (yeah, like any law abiding citizen/person who has run afoul of the system is going to do that and risk defaulting!) But since he HADN'T ignored it and had chosen to come in, he needed to pay a 10 dollar processing fee in order to get the ticket voided. He didn't clearly tell me if he could have gone before the judge or not, but the whole situation sounded like a mess and fit in with my own experiences with traffic violations. I have put quite a bit of effort in the years since to avoid being places law enforcement frequents or is known to harass people as a result, and will never be seen out in the streets protesting because my own experiences have shown the legal system is not in your favor even when innocent, and the fees alone will crush anyone making less than the top 20-30 percent, or having been lucky enough to have a few years worth of savings to cover such expenses (at the risk of losing all that hard fought financial security!)
The majority of people I know couldn't even do that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30 2016, @08:27AM