32-year-old David Stojcevski was put under suicide watch for erratic behavior. Negligence of prison guards in a high observation unit caused him to die in custody, under their ‘watchful’ eye. David had been fined $772 for careless driving. He was financially unable to pay the fines, so instead he was sentenced to spend 30 days in Macomb County Jail (Michigan). His family did not expect that to become a life sentence.
The video procured via freedom of information requests (FOIA) by Kevin Dietz, Local 4 Defenders investigator, shows Stojcevski in his final 17 days. In the video you can see Stojcevski unable to move from the cold cement floor of the jail cell. He lost 50 pounds within 17 days and is visibly infirm. On his last two days, Stojcevski …show more content…
The answer is not so simple: under the 1970 Williams v. Illinois, the Court decided that judges could not extend imprisonment for a person who may be too poor to pay under the fourteenth amendment. It is not unconstitutional for a judge to sentence a man to the maximum penalty by law. The incident occurred in Mount Clemens, Michigan, where it is lawful for a person to be sentenced to imprisonment if they have not paid the fines within a time range set by the judge. In 1971, the Court ruled on Tate v. Short that because an indigent cannot or will not pay a fine, the judge cannot then revert the sentence to imprisonment. In the 1983 ruling for Bearden v. Georgia, the Court ruled that a court could not revoke probation for a person who was unable to pay their fines without examining whether they are solvent and considering other options. So the sentence is in conflict with Tate v. Short because he was fined and then sentenced to imprisonment for his inability to liquidate his debt, moreover it was the court’s fault for not having placed David in the detoxification cell, which could have resulted in a drastically different
The video procured via freedom of information requests (FOIA) by Kevin Dietz, Local 4 Defenders investigator, shows Stojcevski in his final 17 days. In the video you can see Stojcevski unable to move from the cold cement floor of the jail cell. He lost 50 pounds within 17 days and is visibly infirm. On his last two days, Stojcevski …show more content…
The answer is not so simple: under the 1970 Williams v. Illinois, the Court decided that judges could not extend imprisonment for a person who may be too poor to pay under the fourteenth amendment. It is not unconstitutional for a judge to sentence a man to the maximum penalty by law. The incident occurred in Mount Clemens, Michigan, where it is lawful for a person to be sentenced to imprisonment if they have not paid the fines within a time range set by the judge. In 1971, the Court ruled on Tate v. Short that because an indigent cannot or will not pay a fine, the judge cannot then revert the sentence to imprisonment. In the 1983 ruling for Bearden v. Georgia, the Court ruled that a court could not revoke probation for a person who was unable to pay their fines without examining whether they are solvent and considering other options. So the sentence is in conflict with Tate v. Short because he was fined and then sentenced to imprisonment for his inability to liquidate his debt, moreover it was the court’s fault for not having placed David in the detoxification cell, which could have resulted in a drastically different