Controversial judge reappointed after scathing protests from citizens

Fiery protesters rallied against the reappointment of a controversial judge at Tuesday's City Council meeting, with some being asked to leave the chamber when they refused to stop speaking during council discussion.

The Montgomery City Council voted 7-1 to reappoint Judge Les Hayes, with one member abstaining. There was a lengthy discussion about the appointment during both the work session and full council meeting, with several Montgomery residents speaking in protest against Hayes.

Hayes was suspended for 11 months without pay after a Judicial Inquiry Commission complaint found that Hayes “routinely incarcerated traffic offenders and misdemeanants” who could not afford to pay the fines. After serving his suspension, Hayes was put back on the bench, but did not return as the presiding judge.

"Judge Hayes undermined the public’s confidence in the integrity, independence, and impartiality of the judiciary, particularly by exercising a municipal judge’s authority, i.e., incarceration, without adhering to the most basic of judicial duties and law,” the complaint states.

Councilman Tracy Larkin, District 3, said in the work session that he was embarrassed by the backlash that Montgomery faced from critics, including being called a "debtor's court." Because of the implications of Hayes' punishment and suspension, he said he wouldn't reaffirm him to the seat.

“I could not in good conscience vote for the reappointment of Hayes,” he said. “He may have been singled out, but that doesn’t make it right. … It was a clear violation of the rights of poor people.”

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Councilman Fred Bell, District 6, abstained from the vote because he works as a private lawyer and often goes before municipal judges.

Bell said he didn't have any reservations about Hayes, but he did think it was best for the public, and the judge himself, to air out the discussions around his reappointment.

That idea that Hayes was singled out for a once-common legal practice was the main sticking point for several of the council members, including Councilman Brantley Lyons, District 2, who said at the work session that people still needed to be held accountable for their actions. “At what point do you lock them up? At what point do you force the issue?” he asked.

Council members talked about previous executive sessions, which were closed to the public, lamenting the fact that they could not share some of the information that they have with the general public. City Attorney Kim Fehl said there are three lawsuits pending.

Councilman William Green, District 5, said during the work session that he thought the council should do a better job of shaping the narrative with the information that it can provide, because he said the information that has been presented in the media so far has been one-sided.

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Municipal Court Presiding Judge Milton Westry spoke to the council and citizens to answer some of their questions about Hayes and the practice of commuting sentences, hoping to clear up some of the confusion around the case.

He said that the practice did not start with Hayes and was a common practice with many of the judges that he worked with.

“I don’t take pride in having to lock anybody up," he said. Wide discretion was given to judges in those cases, he said, and they tried to work with people that they felt were being honest.

Still, with the changes after the Hayes lawsuit, the courts now have a payment plan and community service that they can offer to people who owe money.

Mayor Todd Strange said at the work session that they had already discontinued the practice before the lawsuit and stressed to council members that they were limited about what they could say because of pending litigation,

"There are two sides to every story," he said.

Hayes served the time for his suspension, Strange said, and has since worked to educate people in the courts about the updated practices.

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Judicial Correction Services, which was a partner in the controversial practice, stopped Alabama operations in October 2015 after legal action taken against the city and JCS by the Southern Poverty Law Center and Equal Justice Under Law.

Now jailing somebody for not paying a fine is only legal if a person is not indigent — making 125 percent of the poverty line or less — and is willfully neglecting to pay a fine despite having the means.

Several citizens came up to speak against Hayes reappointment, railing against the possibility that he could be put back on the bench.

"Judge Les has tainted this city," said William Boyd, one of the speakers.

All of the speakers said that reappointing Hayes would be a blight on Montgomery after the charges and lawsuits. They interrupted the council multiple times during the meeting and police were summoned to corral the group after they stood near the front chamber while the council attempted to discuss the reappointment.

“I have five kids. If all my kids complain about the same person and it’s the same complaint. It’s not the five kids, it's the person," said Willie Knight.

One of the protesters was asked to leave after the city approved Hayes' appointment because she continued to speak out in protest. Another was asked to leave at the end of the meeting when she signed up to talk about litter in the city, but moved onto criticizing the council for cutting off some of the protesters when they spoke beyond their allotted time.

Most of the charges in the 100-page complaint against Hayes, filed by JIC in November 2016, stemmed from decisions made at a time when maligned for-profit probation company JCS was still under contract with the city and still operating in Alabama.

Controversy followed Hayes after he was immediately hired as a consultant by the city’s Office of City Investigations following his suspension. In March 2017, Hayes was forced to leave the job and refund all salary paid after the JIC determined the employment violated both state and city law.

Under Alabama Code Section 12-14-30, “No judge shall be otherwise employed in any capacity by the municipality during his term of office,” and, “The term of either full-time or part-time municipal judges shall continue until a successor has been appointed and qualified.” In addition, Section 17-2(b) of the Municipal Code of the City of Montgomery says, “... No judge shall be otherwise employed in any capacity by the city during his term of office,” and a judge will hold office until a successor is appointed.”

Strange defended the hire at the time saying the JIC “didn't say he couldn't work” and “the court system is not supervised by the city.”

The council also voted to reappoint Municipal judges Virgil Ford and David Vickers on an 8-0 vote each, with Bell abstaining.

Andrew Yawn contributed to this report.

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