TDCAA Community
Satisfaction of Capias Pro Fine

This topic can be found at:
https://tdcaa.infopop.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/157098965/m/6307080416

November 12, 2014, 14:33
mhartman
Satisfaction of Capias Pro Fine
In JP or Municipal court, after a capias pro fine is entered, does the judge have the authority to keep the defendant incarcerated until the fine is laid out if the defendant tenders the payment?
The Judge has made a finding that the defendant intentionally did not make a good faith effort to pay and is running several class "C" cases consecutively and instructing the jailers not to release the defendant until the fine etc is laid out at $50 per day, even if all, or part, of the money is tendered to the jail....
Seems to me if the defendant has a someone bring the fine and court costs to the jail,(or a portion thereof) there is no longer a basis upon which to hold them on a fine-only offense.
November 12, 2014, 15:20
A. Diamond
I don't see how a person who is 'laying out' a fine can be required to lay it out if they pay it.

The more thorny issue in most capias pro fine cases is whether the right to counsel was fully implemented. [The reason class c cases don't usually have a right to counsel is because jail time is not a possibility. At the point where the judge is determining that any amount of jail time is now a possibility, the right attaches.]