Appeals court overturns judgment for jailed poor

CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court Wednesday overturned a judgment that found poor defendants in Hamilton County are entitled to damages for being jailed for not paying fines.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, in a 2-1 ruling, agreed that the plaintiff, a man jailed in 2002 for failing to pay a $250 traffic fine, has a legitimate class-action case against the county public defender’s office. But it disagreed with the lower court’s decision to rule in favor of the class without a trial first.

The appellate judges said there were questions about whether the public defender’s office had a policy or pattern of failing to request the indigency hearings that could lead judges to waive fines, and also whether there were sometimes tactical reasons for the attorneys not to seek one. It sent the case back to U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel for possible trial.

“We ... conclude that [plaintiff Michael] Powers’ evidence is insufficient to show a ‘clear and persistent pattern’ of abuse that the defendants knew about and acquiesced in ... to entitle Powers to summary judgment,” wrote Judge R. Guy Cole Jr., who was joined by Judge Eric L. Clay. Judge Alan E. Norris dissented, saying he mostly agreed with the majority, but believed the municipal court judge was obligated to hold a hearing before sending Powers to jail.

Because of Spiegel’s ruling, Hamilton County faced paying tens in thousands in damages, or $100 per day spent in jail for hundreds of poor people incarcerated for not paying fines without getting an indigency hearing.

“The 6th Circuit gave us the loaf, except for the end piece,” said Powers’ attorney, Robert B. Newman. He said the county could decide to settle the case rather than continue costly legal proceedings; the county prosecutor’s office said it was reviewing the opinion.