Changes

In 2015, Judge Self sentenced Jamaal Lamont Miller (born c. 1982), formerly of [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]], [[Georgia]], as a three-time convicted felon to ten years imprisonment at hard labor. Miller's appeal, which claimed that the sentence was excessive, was rejected by the appeal court in Shreveport. In November 2014, Miller pleaded guilty to felony theft of more than $60,000 in merchandise taken between 2012 and 2014 from the Fibrebond Corporation in Webster Parish, his former employer. His multiple previous felony convictions include forgery and financial fraud. Self declined to take into consideration Miller's military service and his multiple college degrees in rendering the sentence. Miller was offered one-year off the sentence for each $10,000 paid in restitution before the sentencing. He did not make any payments in that regard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2016/02/25/conviction-10-year-sentence-upheld-bossier-man/80952826/|title=Conviction, 10-year sentence upheld for Bossier man|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=February 25, 2016|accessdate=June 19, 2017}}</ref>  

In 2015, Judge Self sentenced Jamaal Lamont Miller (born c. 1982), formerly of [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]], [[Georgia]], as a three-time convicted felon to ten years imprisonment at hard labor. Miller's appeal, which claimed that the sentence was excessive, was rejected by the appeal court in Shreveport. In November 2014, Miller pleaded guilty to felony theft of more than $60,000 in merchandise taken between 2012 and 2014 from the Fibrebond Corporation in Webster Parish, his former employer. His multiple previous felony convictions include forgery and financial fraud. Self declined to take into consideration Miller's military service and his multiple college degrees in rendering the sentence. Miller was offered one-year off the sentence for each $10,000 paid in restitution before the sentencing. He did not make any payments in that regard.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2016/02/25/conviction-10-year-sentence-upheld-bossier-man/80952826/|title=Conviction, 10-year sentence upheld for Bossier man|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=February 25, 2016|accessdate=June 19, 2017}}</ref>  

In 2017,  [[plaintiff]]s James Wheat and Danny Brinson after their arrests in Bossier City for violating a state statute forbidding panhandling, filled a [[class action]] lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana against Bossier Parish Sheriff Julian Curtis Whittington and all judges of the 26th Judicial District Court, including Chief Judge Self. The two men allege that Bossier Parish unjustly jails defendants who cannot pay for [[bail]] or a required $40 fee to the office of the [[public defender]]. Nor does Bossier Parish permit defendants to seek a lowering of the bail amount, which is  automatically set by the court. The suit claims that the parish has for years violated a "bedrock principle of our legal system that a person cannot be detained or imprisoned solely for their inability to pay a fee. Such an [[incarceration]] violates the [[substantive due process]] and [[Equal Protection Clause|equal protection]] clauses of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]].”<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2017/03/21/lawsuit-claims-violation-constitutional-rights-impoverished/99467604/|title=Lawsuit: Bossier Parish routinely violates rights of poor|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|author=Sarah Crawford|date=March 21, 2017|accessdate=June 10, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=

In 2017,  [[plaintiff]]s James Wheat and Danny Brinson after their arrests in Bossier City for violating a state statute forbidding panhandling, filled a [[class action]] lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana against Bossier Parish Sheriff [[Julian Whittington]] and all judges of the 26th Judicial District Court, including Chief Judge Self. The two men allege that Bossier Parish unjustly jails defendants who cannot pay for [[bail]] or a required $40 fee to the office of the [[public defender]]. Nor does Bossier Parish permit defendants to seek a lowering of the bail amount, which is  automatically set by the court. The suit claims that the parish has for years violated a "bedrock principle of our legal system that a person cannot be detained or imprisoned solely for their inability to pay a fee. Such an [[incarceration]] violates the [[substantive due process]] and [[Equal Protection Clause|equal protection]] clauses of the [[United States Constitution|Constitution]].”<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2017/03/21/lawsuit-claims-violation-constitutional-rights-impoverished/99467604/|title=Lawsuit: Bossier Parish routinely violates rights of poor|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|author=Sarah Crawford|date=March 21, 2017|accessdate=June 10, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=

http://ksla.images.worldnow.com/library/4fcc84a0-2727-4274-9bd8-a676452413e8.pdf|title=''James M. Wheat and Danny Brinson v. Judges Mike Craig, Jeff R. Thomposn, Jeff Cox, E. Charles Jacobs, Mike Nerren, and Parker Self and Sheriff Julian Whittington''|publisher=KSLA Images|date=March 20, 2017|accessdate=June 11, 2017}}</ref>

http://ksla.images.worldnow.com/library/4fcc84a0-2727-4274-9bd8-a676452413e8.pdf|title=''James M. Wheat and Danny Brinson v. Judges Mike Craig, Jeff R. Thomposn, Jeff Cox, E. Charles Jacobs, Mike Nerren, and Parker Self and Sheriff Julian Whittington''|publisher=KSLA Images|date=March 20, 2017|accessdate=June 11, 2017}}</ref>