Springfield man sues city of Strafford after traffic ticket leads to 28-day jail stay

A Springfield man is suing the city of Strafford, Greene County and a former Strafford court clerk claiming a ticket for failure to provide proof of insurance led to a 28-day jail stay.

Shannon Porter filed the lawsuit Monday in district court saying that his 14th Amendment rights were violated. Porter's attorney, Brandon Potter, said the jail stay led to Porter losing his job and vehicle and missing his 6-year-old son's first football game.

The lawsuit says Shannon Porter was issued a ticket by Stafford police for failure to provide proof of insurance in April 2013. His ticket was set for arraignment in June 2013 and he did not appear, the lawsuit says, so a warrant was issued for his arrest the next day.

The lawsuit says Porter learned of the warrant in January 2014 and went to city hall in Strafford to pay his fine.

The lawsuit says that then-court clerk Wanda Silkey — who is a defendant in the suit — told Porter he would need to pay $132.50 to dispose of the ticket. Porter paid that amount in cash and was told by Silkey that he did not have to come back to Strafford to do anything else for the ticket, according to the lawsuit.

In April 2014, however, a capias warrant was issued for Porter's arrest for failure to appear and failure to maintain financial responsibility. Porter was arrested in August for the warrant.

A capias warrant is a warrant issued for the purpose of guaranteeing a court appearance. Since Porter was arrested on a capias warrant, he could not post bond until he appeared before a judge, which didn't happen until 28 days after the arrest, the lawsuit says. When Porter appeared before the judge, he paid the fine again and was released, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims Porter was deprived of his pre-trial right to appear before a judge as soon as practicable, and that Silkey's actions were intentional, willful and deliberately indifferent to his rights.

The city of Strafford holds court only once a month, but attorney Brandon Potter said that is not an excuse for not getting his client out sooner.

"Just because somebody doesn't have court, that doesn't meet the smell test," Potter said.

Strafford City Administrator Steve Bodenhamer said Thursday the city had yet to be served the lawsuit, and he would not comment until that occurred.

Strafford Mayor Susan Krieger also declined to comment on the case. Krieger did say, however, that Silkey is no longer an employee of the city.

Krieger said Silkey resigned due to health reasons. Her last day with the city was Nov. 20, 2014.

The News-Leader could not obtain a phone number for Silkey through online resources. A Strafford city clerk agreed to pass along a message to Silkey that the News-Leader was seeking comment from her, but Silkey had not called the News-Leader as of Thursday afternoon.

Attempts to reach Strafford city attorney Paul Link were unsuccessful.

The lawsuit also lists three John Does as defendants. The John Does are city of Strafford and Greene County employees who, according to the lawsuit, did nothing to see that Porter appeared before a judge as soon as practicable.

The lawsuit says that as a result of Porter's 28 days in prison, he suffered embarrassment and humiliation along with the loss of earnings, housing, health insurance and familial relations. The lawsuit says Porter is seeking monetary damages.