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Below are the attorney general opinions that meet your search criteria.
5 Results
State | Citation | Description/Statute Name | Question | Brief answer | Language from the opinion | When does the case apply? | |
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Arkansas | Opinion No. 96-208 | Imprisonment for failure to pay - double jeopardy | Other applicable opinions |
No, it does not constitute double jeopardy to imprison a person for failure to pay a fine when the person has already had his probation revoked, and has served a + See moreterm of imprisonment, for failing to satisfy, as a condition of his probation, his obligation to pay the fine -- if the person is not indigent.
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"such a course of action is authorized by law and does not violate U.S. Const. amend. 5 or Ark. Const. art. 2, + See more § 8, the constitutional provisionsprohibiting the placing of a person in jeopardy more than once for the same offense."
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Enforcement |
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Arkansas | Opinion No. 2008-153 | district court discretion to refuse probation sentence |
Q2) Does a circuit or district court have discretion to refuse to sentence a defendant to probation pursuant to a plea agreement where the only stated reason for rejection of + See moreprobation is due to an indigent defendant's inability to pay court costs prior to the entry of the plea of guilty? Answer) No
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I believe a court's refusal to consider probation as a sentencing option purely because of a defendant's indigency -- which is what your question appears to contemplate -- might well + See morebe subject to challenge as a violation of the Equal Protection guarantees set forth in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and in article 2, §§ 2 and 3 of the Arkansas Constitution.
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Ability to pay | |
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Idaho | Guideline 2/15/1979 | Guideline 2/15/1979 | Can a sheriff collect fees owed to him directly from criminal defendants? | No |
...we strongly question whether a defendant could be assessedthe costs of making the arrest or transporting him as a prisoner. Assessing
costs of serving subpoenas might be upheld if the defendant + See moreis not indigent.
We do not question the power of the court to collect the statutory $7 .50 under
* 3 1 -3201A ( b).
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Fines and fees |
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New Mexico | State v. Mabry, 630 P.2d 269, 273 (N.M. 1981) |
"[T]he scope of our review is here limited to whether the Legislature had the power to enact these statutes. It has long been recognized in this state that it is + See moresolely within the province of the Legislature to establish penalties for criminal behavior."
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Under what circumstances does a conflict of interest in the imposition or enforcement of court debt violate state law? | Courts can seemingly impose or enforce any court debt that is permitted by the legislature | revenue flow | |
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Oklahoma | 1999 OK AG 58 | Open Records Act | Other applicable opinions |
1. The Oklahoma Open Records Act applies to criminal pleadings + See more 2. Courts and District Attorneys must provie "prompt reasonable access" 3. District Attorneys must maintain confidential records
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¶15 It is, therefore, the Opinion of the Attorney General that: 1. The pleadings in a criminal case, particularly the information, are "records" within the meaning of the Oklahoma Open + See moreRecords Act, 51 O.S. 24A.3 (1998). A court clerk must make such pleadings available for public inspection and copying once the district attorney has filed the pleading with the court clerk, 51 O.S. 24A.5 (1998), unless the pleading has been sealed by a court or is protected by a privilege of confidentiality, such as the confidentiality of a grand jury indictment by 22 O.S. 385, until such time as the order of the court expires or is removed and until the grand jury indictment is made public pursuant to statutory provision. A district attorney may keep information contained within the district attorney's litigation files confidential and so not disclose an information or other pleadings. See 51 O.S. 24A.12 (1991).
2. A court clerk or district attorney has no authority to withhold public records from inspection and copying. Such officers must provide "prompt, reasonable access" to the public pursuant to 51 O.S. 24A.5 (1998). This generally may include only the time required to locate and compile such public records. Id.
3. A district attorney may keep confidential records contained in the litigation files of that office. Police departments are not required to provide public access to records of the police department except as provided in Section 51 O.S. 24A.8 of the Open Records Act or pursuant to court order. Neither a district attorney nor a police department must make available for public inspection and copying a record which includes a list of all charges contained in an information. See 51 O.S. 24A.2 - 51 O.S. 24A.8 and 51 O.S. 24A.12 (1998).
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