Tried my first State Jail Felony case this week. D just wouldn't plead to UUMV. Jury maxed him at 24 months confinement and hit him with a fine of $7500.

During punishment deliberations, the jury asked what happens if he does not pay the fine, and it made me curious.

What, if anything, happens if a D does not pay a State Jail Felony fine? I know that with a F3-F1 who receives pen time, the fine can be psuedo-enforced via parole authorities. At least hypothetically it can be.

But is there any penalty attached to non-payment of a State Jail Felony fine? Suspended drivers license? Tell me tell me tell me.

Well, almost nothing. In theory, you can probably obtain a judgment for the amount of the fine and have it abstracted and recorded, so if the D ever sells his house, the judgment lien could potentially be paid. I've run into the same problem with restitution. Defendant demands jury trial on a state jail felony, does not request probation (since until recently jury could not grant probation anyway), then serves whatever sentence is imposed and is done - no parole, no supervision, etc. This may sound counter-intuitive, but next trial, YOU might ask the jury to impose the max sentence, but to grant probation - then at least you have the D for up to 5 years, and can revoke any time up to that point. On another note, sine the jury maxed the D, it appears that D is entitled to credit for any time served. I think there is a case that says in a max time case, failure to credit time served would result in an improper sentence.

Even in TDCJ prison cases you cannot enforce a fine. (See Govt Code sec. 508.182 - parole fees)The parole division is specifically prohibited by law from collecting any fines. They can only collect restitution and only if that restitution was ordered by a court and only in the amount that the court ordered. The civil judgment option that was mentioned above is the only remedy available.

Of course, I wonder what is the point. Most defendants are indigent or practically so. And this is especially true once they come out of prison with no job or job prospects and no family to help / support them.

Seems like piling on to me anyways.

[This message was edited by Dennis Foster on 10-27-05 at .]

Our district clerk is participating in a program with TDCJ whereby court costs, fines, etc., can be collected (slowly, I'm sure) by instituting a type of withholding order which taps into an inmate's commissary account. The initial "draw" is 20% and then 10% of all deposits into the account thereafter. I like it!

I have, on occasion, mentioned during closing that I don't really care for the jury to impose a fine. However, every time that I do so, they give the guy a fine! I too have had the jury question on how a fine is to be paid, typically when they're worried we'll go after the defendant's family to pay it. I couldn't ever think of a really good approach to this problem except to voir dire it at the next trial. I heard one time of a jury in a murder trial hanging on punishment on the fine to assess. The DA then had to go back and try the whole case from scratch. I can't imagine how mad he was.

In closing arguments I always tell the jury to completely disregard the fine. I specifically tell them that if the defendant is going to prison, he's not going to pay it, and it's unenforceable, and you can't get blood from a turnip, and so on. I started including that at the strong suggestion of my judge because, like clockwork, the first question the jury always has relates to the fine. So far so good. On a couple of occassions the jury has included a max fine along with a max sentence. That's fine with me, too.

Mike, is there a motion you file with your clerk to get this rolling. Of course, this guy has absolutely no assets.

We in the D.A.'s office don't have to do anything to initiate this collection. Our district clerk received the approval of the Commissioners Court and she does this all on her on. You might check and see if your district clerk is aware of this procedure. If not, I'll be happy to get more details if you wish. By the way, congrats on your SJF sentence!