4 takeaways from the Ravalli County pretrial services civil trial

Last week, a lawsuit over Ravalli County's pretrial services went to trial in federal court in Missoula before U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen. If you missed the Missoulian's coverage during the trial, here's what you need to know:

1. What are pretrial services?

When someone is arrested, a judge decides what they have to do before being released from jail. Usually, that involves some amount of bail money. It can also involve pretrial conditions, which are certain conditions of monitoring and behavior that a defendant must follow. For example, someone charged with a DUI may have to do regular breathalyzers, or someone charged with domestic violence may have to wear a GPS monitor.

Pretrial conditions are typically an alternative to jail time, and can last through the duration of someone's case.

In Ravalli County, the sheriff's department started a self-funded pretrial program in 2018. Instead of going to private providers, defendants can get their tests and equipment through the sheriff's office. According to Ravalli County Sheriff Stephen Holton, this has reduced the jail population by about 30%.

In Ravalli County, defendants must pay for their pretrial services. These costs can add up to several hundred dollars every month.

2. What was the lawsuit about?

Several former clients of the sheriff's office pretrial services program entered into a class-action lawsuit against Ravalli County.

Most of the case centers around the concept of due process. The government has to follow fair procedures before depriving someone of their property. The pretrial fees can be prohibitively high for some people already living paycheck to paycheck.

Pretrial conditions are imposed by a judge, which constitutes due process, but the judge has no power to actually decide how much the fees cost. The plaintiffs argued this means the fees themselves are imposed without due process, since people are being deprived of their money without a proper hearing.

There are certain protections given to bail that aren't given to pretrial fees. For instance, bail is a one-time payment, it's returned after court proceedings are over and the amount can be reviewed by a judge. The plaintiffs used this comparison to argue the pretrial fees violate due process.

3. What happened at the trial?

The plaintiffs called witnesses who had been on pretrial services and testified the fees were too high for them to afford. Some witnesses testified they'd been denied testing or removed from the services after being unable to pay. Witnesses also testified they weren't informed of fees at any of their hearings and didn't have an option to appeal the fee amounts.

The defense used their cross-examination and witnesses to poke holes in that narrative. They called into question several aspects of the pretrial clients' stories and presented testimony that Ravalli County had given leniency on fee payments and opportunities to review the conditions.

4. What did the jury decide? 

The jury ruled in favor of Ravalli County, deciding there had been no due process violations. The plaintiffs plan to appeal this ruling. In the meantime, Ravalli County's pretrial program can continue unchanged, and plans to increase its fees by 34% over the next two years.