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The Dallas County Jail. (Photo by Andreas Praefcke from Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News)
NEW ORLEANS (CN) Sixteen judges of the Fifth Circuit appeared split Wednesday during a special en banc hearing over Dallas County’s bail program that critics say keeps indigent defendants in jail indefinitely because they cannot afford their release.
George Karakatsanis, an attorney for the indigent plaintiffs challenging the system, argued people are being detained for weeks, or even months, simply because they are unable to post bail.
U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, an appointee of George W. Bush, asked at the start of the hearing if she could pose a “practical question,” or a series of such questions: for instance, how would the Dallas County court go about enforcing lesser bail for indigent detainees?
SAN FRANCISCO (CN) The California Supreme Court opened its 2021 session Tuesday with a long-awaited hearing on cash bail that will set the course for pretrial detention in California for years to come.
The case involves Kenneth Humphrey, a 66-year-old former shipyard worker who was arrested in 2017 on charges of stealing $7 and a bottle of cologne from his disabled 79 year-old neighbor. According to legal documents connected with the case, the neighbor said Humphrey followed him into his apartment and demanded money. Humphrey threatened to put a pillowcase over the neighbor’s head, prompting him to hand over $2. Humphrey then left, but not before swiping an additional $5 and a bottle of cologne.