Schultz v. Alabama

RAY CHARLES SCHULTZ, et al., Plaintiffs, BRADLEY HESTER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. STATE OF ALABAMA, et al., Defendants, MATTHEW GENTRY, Sheriff of Cullman County, Alabama, in official and individual capacity, AMY BLACK, in her official capacity as a Magistrate, LISA MCSWAIN, in her official capacity as a Magistrate, JUDGE J. CHAD FLOYD, JUDGE RUSTY TURNER, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 18-13894

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit

July 29, 2022

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama D.C. Docket No 5:17-cv-00270-MHH

Before ROSENBAUM, LAGOA, and ANDERSON, Circuit Judges.

LAGOA CIRCUIT JUDGE

Cullman County, Alabama, maintains a bail system that, until recently, was commonplace throughout the country. When arrested, the accused is assessed an amount of bail based on a bail schedule. Those who can pay the amount are immediately released. Those who cannot afford to post bail, however, are detained for a short time period until they can appear at a bail hearing.

At that bail hearing, the arrestee must prove his inability to post bail and show that he is not a flight risk or a danger to the community in order to secure his release.

Today we are asked to assess the constitutionality of this ubiquitous system. Bradley Hester, on behalf of a class of similarly situated pretrial detainees, argues that the bail system is unconstitutional because it discriminates against the indigent, both by absolutely depriving them of pretrial release and by depriving them of due process at their bail hearings. In the district court, Hester moved for a preliminary injunction on both grounds. The district court agreed with his position and enjoined the Sheriff of Cullman County from continuing to operate its bail system as written essentially guaranteeing indigent arrestees immediate pretrial release. This appeal followed.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The factual background of this case is long and complicated. When Hester was first arrested and detained, Cullman County maintained a bail system that is no longer in effect. On March 26, 2018-after Hester filed his complaint but before the district court issued its preliminary injunction-Cullman County adopted a new bail system, as memorialized in what we will refer to as the "Standing Bail Order." The Standing Bail Order is the bail system at issue in this case.

We will thus summarize the facts in four parts. First, we describe the relevant provisions of Alabama law at issue. Second, we describe Cullman County's prior bail system-i.e., the bail system in place before March 26, 2018. Third, we detail the changes Cullman County made to its bail system upon the issuance of the Standing Bail Order. Fourth, we summarize Hester's arrest and the resulting procedural history of this case.

Under Alabama law, all arrestees not charged with capital murder have the statutory right to bail. See Ala. Code §§ 15-13-106 to -108. The purposes of setting bail are obvious: getting defendants to appear for court proceedings and ensuring public safety. See Ala. R. Crim. P. 7.2(a) (noting that conditions of pretrial release should "reasonably assure the defendant's appearance" at court proceedings and protect "the public at large" from "real and present danger").

Alabama Rule of Criminal Procedure 7.2(a) establishes the framework for the right to bail and specifies the factors to be considered when conducting an individualized bail determination:

Rule 7.2. Right to release on one's personal recognizance or on bond.

(a) Before Conviction. Any defendant charged with an offense bailable as a matter of right may be released pending or during trial on his or her personal recognizance or on an appearance bond unless the court or magistrate determines that such a release will not reasonably assure the defendant's appearance as required, or that the defendant's being at large will pose a real and present danger to others or to the public at large. If such a determination is made, the court may impose the least onerous condition or conditions contained in Rule 7.3(b) that will reasonably assure the defendant's appearance or that will eliminate or minimize the risk of harm to others or to the public at large. In making such a determination, the court may take into account the following:

1. The age, background and family ties, relationships and circumstances of the defendant. 2. The defendant's reputation, character, and health.

3. The defendant's prior criminal record, including prior releases on recognizance or on secured appearance bonds, and other pending cases.

4. The identity of responsible members of the community who will vouch for the defendant's reliability.

5. Violence or lack of violence in the alleged commission of the offense.

6. The nature of the offense charged, the apparent probability of conviction, and the likely sentence, insofar as these factors are relevant to the risk of nonappearance.

7. The type of weapon used, e.g., knife, pistol, shotgun, sawed-off shotgun. 8. Threats made against victims and/or witnesses.

9. The value of property taken during the alleged commission of the offense.

10. Whether the property allegedly taken was recovered or not; damage or lack of damage to property allegedly taken.

11. Residence of the defendant, including consideration of real property ownership, and length of residence in his or her place of domicile.

12. In cases where the defendant is charged with a drug offense, evidence of selling or pusher activity should indicate a substantial increase in the amount of bond.

13. Consideration of the defendant's employment status and history, the location of defendant's employment, e.g., whether employed in the county where the alleged offense occurred, and the defendant's financial condition.

14. Any enhancement statutes related to the charged offense.

Ala R. Crim. P. 7.2(a).

Individuals in Cullman County can be arrested in one of two ways-pursuant to a warrant or pursuant to a warrantless probable cause arrest. For individuals arrested pursuant to a warrant issued by one of the County's magistrate judges, those judges set the initial bail amount in the warrant. For individuals arrested without a warrant, the Cullman County Sheriff's Office sets the initial bail amount. In Cullman County, both before and after the Standing Bail Order went into effect, bail was initially assessed under a Master Bail Schedule that matched an amount of bail with a particular criminal offense.

Because many individuals do not have liquid assets in an amount sufficient to satisfy the bail schedule, Cullman County also has a bonding process that allows arrestees to post bail. Arrestees can post either property bonds or surety bonds to make bail. In the case of property bonds, the arrestee posts either real or chattel property as collateral for his bail. With surety bonds, the arrestee contacts a bonding company and works out an arrangement by which he pays a fee or percentage of his bail to the bonding company, which then posts bail in the full amount.

Before March 26, 2018, the Cullman County bail schedule matched specific criminal offenses with a range of bail that could be assessed. When an individual was arrested without a warrant, the Sheriff's Office would set bail under that schedule based on the crime charged. Those individuals who could post bail through a secured bond were immediately released, while those who could not afford to post bail were detained until a magistrate judge could conduct an initial appearance. At that initial appearance, the magistrate judge would explain the basis of the bail amount set but was not permitted to evaluate the bail amount or determine whether it exceeded the amount necessary to satisfy the purposes of bail. After that bail hearing, an arrestee could move to have his bail amount reconsidered, which would then be heard by a district judge in Cullman County.

The parties disputed the efficacy of this now-defunct bail system. According to Alacourt-Alabama's electronic court monitoring system-around 34% of arrestees in February 2018 could not secure their release by posting bond within seventy-two hours of arrest. And of that group, Alacourt explained that a substantial percentage did not receive their initial appearance within the seventy-two hours prescribed by Alabama law. The Defendants, however, contended that Alacourt did not contain all relevant information and sometimes experienced substantial lag time in updating. According to them, the number of February 2018 arrestees who were released without the need of an initial appearance was 76%. But, according to the Defendants, a number of arrestees who ultimately did not post bond were ineligible for release anyway due to either a new probable cause arrest or a warrant for failure to appear.

On March 26, 2018, the presiding circuit judge of Cullman County issued a new "Standing Order Regarding Pre-Trial Appearance and the Setting of Bond." This Standing Bail Order set new policies for the County, including providing a new bail schedule that specified specific bail amounts (rather than a range) for specific crimes. Some bail amounts were also lower than in the previous system.

The Standing Bail Order prescribed new procedures for administering bail. As with the previous system, arrestees who could afford to pay the bail amount imposed upon arrest would be immediately released-usually within ninety minutes or so of arriving at the Sheriff's Office. But if the Sheriff believed that the amount in the bail schedule was insufficient for serving the purposes of bail-i.e., if the Sheriff believed that the arrestee posed a risk of flight or danger to the community that did not match the amount of bail prescribed by the schedule-the...