Thread: When 'free' lawyers aren't free

Are we heading down the path where justice only exists for the rich?

Our view on legal rights: When 'free' lawyers aren't free - USATODAY.com

All 15 states examined by the Brennan Center have jurisdictions that arrest people for failure to pay or appear at debt-related hearings. That's as inhumane as it is fiscally irresponsible. Much of this debt is uncollectable from people already living at society's margins. Jailing them costs more than the debts collected.

Among all this absurdity, defender fees stand out as particularly onerous because they skew a defendant's chances to get a fair shake from the start. Supporters of the system argue that judges can waive fees for those who are "truly indigent." But not all judges do, and some defendants never learn of that possibility.

In Idaho's Nez Perce County, a sign informs every defendant: "If you apply for a public defender and the service is granted to you, IT IS NOT FREE." Such warnings leave poor people with a stark choice — pleading guilty even if they're innocent or seeking a lawyer and being saddled with debt.

If states want streets that are safe and courts that are just, they'll have to find better ways to pay for the judges, lawyers, jailers and others who can make that happen.

Originally Posted by ShawneeMoon

Is this legal????

I don't think so. It sounds like a violation of the 6th amendment.

Originally Posted by Winn

Isn't this scenario one of the many reasons we made "debtor's prisons" illegal in the US?

Yes and it looks like some states have found a work-around for those laws.

Originally Posted by katiegrrl0

What do you mean are you... It has been this way for a long time. The let's make a deal courts you run bow to the rich. If L. Lohan we some poor woman she would have her ass in jail as I type this. Justice in the US is always for sale.

Agreed the rich have gotten away with things a poor man would not have simply because they can afford better lawyers, but now the poor won't even be able to afford any lawyer at all.

Now we're going down a path of executing what may be innocent human beings.
Alter: Rick Perry, Texas, and the Death Penalty - Newsweek

The government, GOP politicians suggest, can’t run a three-car funeral. It’s unaccountable, intrusive, and has too much power to revoke people’s rights. But when it comes to the ultimate right—life—these same conservatives almost invariably view the government’s actions as flawless and not subject to review even if injustice surfaces. Who’s arrogant now?

On the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham, convicted of the arson death of his 3 young daughters:

The flip side of the Lone Star honor culture is an unusual legal process for people to reclaim their reputations, even posthumously. The Willingham family won a hearing in a special court of inquiry. This week Mark White will deliver the summation in that court. He plans to argue that there’s “compelling evidence” the forensic evidence of arson was nonexistent. “The whole foundation of the case was arson,” White told me. “If there’s no arson, there’s no crime, and, therefore, he is innocent.” Innocent and dead.

nice of you to ruin a pretty nice Saturday afternoon here in Northwestern Connecticut.... the first thing I thought of was 18 /19th century England and debtor's prisons.... didn't we have a real honest TEA PARTY, fight a rev war and define a Constitution to prevent us from being like 19th Century Englan ??

Well i should log off you have depressed me and still have summer lawn furniture to wash and put away a a couple three cars to wash !!!