SOCIAL JUSTICE BLOG

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Criminal Justice Reform, Debtors' Prison Teddy Basham-Witherington Criminal Justice Reform, Debtors' Prison Teddy Basham-Witherington

Cleaning Up The Criminal Justice System in Paris, Texas

Under Texas law, individuals can be required to pay for their court-appointed defense attorney. While the Court of Criminal Appeals has clarified that a court must determine that a defendant actually has the ability to pay attorney fees before ordering them to do so, not all courts follow the law. In Lamar County, a local defense attorney, relatively new to Texas, was shocked when he saw defendants ordered to pay money they didn’t have for a court-appointed attorney, and then threatened with jail if they missed payments.

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