Arkansas Judge Milas Hale has been named, along with some of his Pulaski Country “peers,” in an ACLU lawsuit for pretty much running a debtor’s prison.
In a nearly 60 page lawsuit filed against the city of Sherwood, Pulaski County and District Judge Milas Hale Tuesday, the ACLU of Arkansas along with several law groups, challenges what it calls a violation of constitutional rights for people accused of writing hot checks.
"Everybody knew that something not so good was going on in Sherwood with these hot checks," Sklar said.
"A single bounced check written 10 years ago for $15 can be leveraged into a debt of thousands and thousands of dollars in fines and fees for inability to pay the original check and then inability to pay the payments that were set up,” added Sklar.
It goes on to say the hot check court hearings held every Thursday are held in secret, with no transcripts available and closed off to the public. It also adds that hot check defendants are unknowingly signing a waiver of counsel because they’re told they must fill the form out to enter the courtroom.
One of the defendants that the ACLU is filing these charges for is Lee Robertson. In 2009 Mr. Robertson was undergoing chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer. He couldn’t work. Why couldn’t he work? He had pancreatic cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy.
Robertson started off owing a few stores about $200. Six years and seven arrests later, in a closed courtroom in Sherwood District Court in Arkansas, Judge Milas “Butch” Hale sentenced the cancer patient to 90 days in jail. His crime? Owing the court $3,054.51.
After his time in prison?
Between the time of his charges and his latest jailing, Robertson had been sentenced to a stretch in jail over outstanding fines. Sherwood police officers came to his door, demanding money and threatening arrest. A private probation company, ProTrac, also charged Robertson $35 per month on top of the payments to the court, burying him further in debt.
He’s not alone. Nikki Petree, 40, was charged for bouncing a single check for $28.93, according to the lawsuit. She has been arrested in connection with that charge on at least seven occasions, and been jailed for more than 25 days. She’s paid at least $640 to the city.
That’s called a scam is every other part of the world. Here’s a statement from Judge “Butch” Hale:
We do not run a so called 'debtor's prison' in Sherwood. If a defendant pleads guilty, or is found guilty, of writing a hot check we set up a payment plan. It is only after the third or fourth time that they fail to comply with a court order that we incarcerate
I guess Judge Hale is having a hard time hearing and seeing given all of that dark-matter from his putrid soul, pushing out through his eyes and ears. If someone cannot afford $20 and writes a bad check, they are not going to be able to afford ten times more. What to do? It’s not Judge Hale’s fault that there isn’t a strong enough safety net in his municipality, but he’s part of a profiteering system that is exploiting people who are down and in trouble. At best he’s a lackey.