Papers by Aaron Wynhausen
Missouri law review, 2018
Aaron Wynhausen I. INTRODUCTION Currently, in Missouri, if you are an alleged criminal offender... more Aaron Wynhausen I. INTRODUCTION Currently, in Missouri, if you are an alleged criminal offender unable to afford bail, sitting in county jail waiting for trial, you may be racking up a bill worth thousands of dollars for your "care." State prosecutors and judges have the discretion to impose this bill upon you, and if you are unable to pay this bill for any reason, then the true cost may well be the incalculable expense of your freedom. The Supreme Court of Missouri recently considered a case that followed this pattern and ultimately released a man who spent three years in state prison for failure to "pay for his stay" while awaiting trial in a county jail. William Fleming was an indigent resident of Farmington, Missouri, on probation for assault. 1 His five-year probation term was revoked after four years and ten months, and he was then sentenced to a seven-year prison term solely for a failure to pay court-ordered fines in the time allotted by the court. 2 He filed for a writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Court of Missouri, challenging the sufficiency of his sentence, and he won. 3 The court found his due process rights were violated because the sentencing court failed to follow established judicial procedures for revoking probation when an offender fails to pay legal financial obligations ("LFOs"). 4 His equal protection rights were also violated because the sentencing court neglected to account for his indigence as the impetus for his failure to pay-a condition that offenders with
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Papers by Aaron Wynhausen