I've been saying for years the judicial system in Alabama was on the verge of collapse due to lack of funding and an order issued by Mobile County Circuit Judge James Patterson on Sept. 24 will either open eyes or open Pandora's Box. It will be fun to see which one happens.
The rubber meets the road in the court system at the circuit clerk's office. This is where it all starts and stops. Over the years, the state has cut, cut and cut more employees from the clerks' office all across the state. They been cut to the point that many circuit clerks can't live up to their constitutional duties.
I got a copy of a case entitled State of Alabama vs. Brady Mandy Nicole in Mobile County. This show -cause hearing dealt with the fact that Brady was indicted by a Mobile grand jury in December, 2017 for trafficking methamphetamine. Her previous record deemed her as a habitual offender. Her case was set for trial on Aug. 27, 2018. Eleven days prior to the trial, the court revoked her bond on the new charges and she showed up in handcuffs for a bond hearing. But despite the bond revocation, she was released on bond and did not show up for her Aug. 27 hearing.
The reason she was left out was because the circuit clerk's office did not send the bond revocation notice to the jail because it was so backed up due to the lack of manpower.
How could this happen? What if the defendant was a child molester or a murderer?
I could see this day coming years ago.
Was in the clerk's fault? Was it the jail's fault? Judge Patterson said no and laid the blame on the Alabama Legislature due to the lack of funding for the circuit clerk's office.
Mobile County Circuit Clerk Jo Schwarzauer testified that an Administrative Office of the Courts study showed her office should have 57.7 people working based on the case loads. But due to state cuts, she only has 38 people working – a shortfall of 19.7 employees.
According to the judge's ruling, Schwarzauer testified that due to the budget cuts it adversely impacted her ability to perform her legal duties.
She also said due to the budget cuts there have been times that other defendants charged with crimes worse than trafficking meth were let out of jail by mistake due to the workload.
According to the court order, in fiscal year 2016 the Mobile circuit clerk's office collected fees and costs in excess of $7 million from litigants appearing in Mobile circuit and district courts. However, the bulk of that money was sent to Montgomery despite an act that states “It is in the intent of the Legislature that funds generated by the fee increases provided for in this bill shall first be used to maintain on the district and circuit court and clerk's of courts payrolls of court the positions jeopardized by proration in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1992.”
Judge Patterson said based what was collected in Mobile County and sent to the state, “Mobile County litigants funded 70.85 percent of the entire state judicial fiscal year 2017 budget.”
In reading the judge's order, it appears there are many conflicting laws passed by the Legislature as to where court money should go.
In addition to funding the state judiciary, money collected in Mobile County and other counties across the state also go to non-court related agencies within the state's general budget.
Judge Patterson noted in his ruling that the entire court system in the state of Alabama has been underfunded for many years. He referenced again that monies collected on the local level should first be used to adequately staff the local offices.
The town of Flomaton is restricted as to how and where it can spend money collected in the municipal court system. Bottom line it has to be spent on the court system.
But money collected in county court systems go to multiple agencies, including a line item that sends funds to the Citizens Trust – American Village in Montevallo.
Escambia County Circuit Clerk John Robert Fountain said his office sent $5,023.70 to the Montevallo museum in 2017 on fees collected on criminal cases alone.
In his ruling, Judge Patterson took a step back to the Boston Tea Party, comparing what the Legislature was doing was taxation without representation.
“Taxing a segment of the state population who needs access to the court system, and then using those tax revenues to support the state's entire population is also unconstitutional,” he wrote. “In fact, we fought a revolution against England, in part, because of this.”
He noted the colonists fought back against taxes being levied by England when the colonists had no voice on the tax.
“Given that the stated purpose of the court costs collected in Mobile County, Alabama, “is to maintain on the district and circuit court and clerks of courts payrolls of court positions,” and given that the vast majority of the funds collected are not used to fund the courts, this court is of the opinion and below declares these court cost statutes are unconstitutional.”
I could go on and on, but in his ruling, Judge Patterson ordered the Mobile County Circuit Clerk to withhold 10 percent of court fees collected beginning Oct. 1, 2018 and to continue to withhold those funds until the office is “adequately and reasonably funded.”
Judge Patterson's ruling will likely be appealed but he has at least opened the conversation of how desperately underfunded our judicial system is.
Wait until they start keeping people in jail who are supposed to be out and you'll see the lawsuits flying.
