Changes

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 U.S. District Court against Bossier Parish Sheriff [[Julian Whittington]] and all judges of the 26th Judicial District Court, including Chief Judge [[Parker Self]] and Judge Jacobs. Wheat and Brinson allege that Bossier Parish unjustly jails defendants who cannot pay for [[bail]] or the 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 instead 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 the [[Equal Protection Clause]] 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 16, 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. Thompson, Jeff Cox, E. Charles Jacobs, Mike Nerren, and Parker Self and Sheriff Julian Whittington''|publisher=KSLA-TV Images|date=March 20, 2017|accessdate=June 16, 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 U.S. District Court against Bossier Parish Sheriff [[Julian Whittington]] and all judges of the 26th Judicial District Court, including Chief Judge [[Parker Self]] and Judge Jacobs. Wheat and Brinson allege that Bossier Parish unjustly jails defendants who cannot pay for [[bail]] or the 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 instead 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 the [[Equal Protection Clause]] 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 16, 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. Thompson, Jeff Cox, E. Charles Jacobs, Mike Nerren, and Parker Self and Sheriff Julian Whittington''|publisher=KSLA-TV Images|date=March 20, 2017|accessdate=June 16, 2017}}</ref>

Jacobs' other judicial colleagues are [[Jeff R. Thompson]],  Mike Nerren, and Michael O. Craig, and until 2017 Jeff Cox, who joined the Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit. Cox was named a defendant in the Wheat-Brinson suit because he was a member of the 26th Judicial District Court at the time of the panhandling case.

Jacobs' other judicial colleagues are [[Jeff R. Thompson]],  [[Mike Nerren]], and Michael O. Craig, and until 2017 Jeff Cox, who joined the Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit. Cox was named a defendant in the Wheat-Brinson suit because he was a member of the 26th Judicial District Court at the time of the panhandling case.

==References==

==References==