Attorneys Karra Porter and Anna Christiansen have filed a class-action lawsuit against two judges for unaffordable bail. Southern Utah judges Ann Marie Mciff Allen and Jeremiah Humes were listed as the defendants in the lawsuit. They are being sued for declaratory relief.
Karra says, "The bail system is "wealth-based" and detains people who can't afford to pay and releases people who can." “A lot of people are so desperate to get out of jail and [but] they don't have the money [so] they'll just take a guilty plea when they're not guilty,” she said.
Karra and Anna plan to take legal action if judges don't follow the procedures outlined in their lawsuit.
Below is an example of the excessive bail Karra and Anna speak of:
- Dawn Hepikiya Medina has been in the Iron County jail since she was arrested last week for alleged shoplifting. Her bail was set at $7,000.
- Justin Horton’s bail was set to $5,000 after he was found allegedly cutting catalytic converters from cars. He’s since been booked in the Carbon County jail.
- Madelaine Thompson was given a bail amount of $3,000 after being arrested for a fight with her family and is still in the Beaver County jail.
To read more articles about the class-action, please visit
KUER and
Salt Lake Tribune.
