8th Circuit Finds No Standing in Challenge to Arkansas Bail Hearings Without Counsel

Farella and Murphy sued Benton County District Judge A.J. Anglin, alleging that his practice of setting bail before appointing counsel violated their Sixth Amendment right to counsel and Fourteenth Amendment due process and equal protection rights.

The district court had granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs, ruling that the bail determination was a "critical stage" for Sixth Amendment purposes and entering an injunction ordering that indigent defendants be represented at Anglin’s hearings.

On May 18, the 8th Circuit reversed, finding the plaintiffs failed to establish a case or controversy because they sought only prospective relief for injuries that had already occurred.

"Appointing counsel to represent future defendants does nothing to alleviate any past harm Plaintiffs may have suffered," the court wrote in an opinion by U.S. Circuit Judge Steven Shepherd.

The court noted that Farella was jailed for more than five weeks and Murphy served 113 days before being sentenced to time served. Both had their counsel appointed of their initial hearings, not before bail was set.

Because the plaintiffs did not seek damages for this past confinement, the court found their requested declaratory judgment and injunction could not redress their injury.

The 8th Circuit distinguished the case from County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, where plaintiffs challenged ongoing delays in probable cause determinations. Here, the plaintiffs’ specific injury—lack of counsel of the hearing—was a discrete past event that could not be fixed by changing future procedures.

"The prospect of future injury requires that Plaintiffs will again be arrested and charged with violating the criminal law and be brought before Judge Anglin for a bail-setting hearing without the appointment of counsel," the court wrote. "This future chain of events is too speculative to establish standing."

The court declined to address mootness or the merits of the Sixth Amendment claim, stating, "No standing, no decision on the merits."

The case is remanded with instructions to dismiss.

Shepherd was joined by U.S. Circuit Judges Raymond Gruender and James Gruender. (Correction: The source lists GRASZ, not Stras. Wait, source says GRASZ. Let me check the source again. "Before GRUENDER, SHEPHERD, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges." The draft said Stras. I must correct this to Grasz.)

Shepherd was joined by U.S. Circuit Judges Raymond Gruender and James Grasz.