The latest skirmish over a governor’s authority to impose emergency pandemic restrictions might take only a few weeks to resolve in Kentucky, where Attorney General Daniel Cameron is asking the Kentucky Supreme Court to enforce a Boone County injunction against such restrictions.
The Kentucky Supreme Court heard arguments Thursday over the legislature’s attempt to limit Gov. Andy Beshear’s emergency powers, a day before the governor scheduled coronavirus restrictions to expire.
A class of former inmates in Kentucky who were either acquitted or had charges dropped argue counties cannot stick them with the bill for expenses related to their incarcerations.
Attorneys argue before the Kentucky Supreme Court on Wednesday in a case over pretrial detainees being charged for the costs of confinement. (Screenshot via Courthouse News)
FRANKFORT, Ky. (CN) A Kentucky county violated state law and the bedrock principle of innocent until proven guilty when it charged a detainee for confinement costs even after the case against him was dropped, the former inmate argued Wednesday before the Kentucky Supreme Court.
David Jones was arrested and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Oct. 26, 2013, and although he spent the next 14 months in jail, all of the charges against him were dismissed and he was released from custody on April 2, 2015.
The Kentucky Supreme Court chambers. (Photo by David Mark from Pixabay via Courthouse News)
FRANKFORT, Ky. (CN) Kentucky residents hurt on the job after they become eligible for Social Security are treated unfairly under a state law intended to prevent the duplication of so-called income replacement benefits, a Kroger employee argued Wednesday before the state’s top court.
Cheryl Cates worked for the grocery store chain for over 17 years but was forced to undergo shoulder replacement surgery in 2015 after she was injured at work. She was 66 at the time of her injury, and was awarded permanent partial disability benefits in the amount of $113,616.12 by an administrative law judge in 2018.
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The Kentucky Supreme Court will decide whether local jails are allowed to bill people for incarceration costs, even if they are later cleared of wrongdoing.
The High Court heard arguments Wednesday over a case involving a Winchester man arrested in 2014 on child pornography charges that were eventually dropped because police found no evidence.
After his arrest, David Jones couldn’t afford to pay a $15,000 bond and spent 14 months in the Clark County Jail, racking up more than $4,000 in jail fees while prosecutors pursued the case.
Jones filed a lawsuit against the county over the tab. During a hearing on Wednesday, Jones’ attorney Gregory Belzley argued that automatically charging inmates for jail costs goes against the presumption of innocence.