On a Sunday evening in November 2015, Lori Mathes was in the kitchen of her gray and blue bungalow in Onawa, a small town in western Iowa. She was talking on the phone with her mother, she recalls, when four police officers barged in with their guns drawn. They said they were looking for her ex-husband, who had stopped by for a visit.
During the raid, police found a small amount — two grams — of marijuana belonging to Mathes, according to a police report. They charged her with felony drug possession; a conviction could land her in prison.
Mathes, who was 56 at the time, wanted to fight the charge; she says the police entered her home illegally. But she couldn’t afford to hire a lawyer — her alimony and Social Security disability payments together totaled $1,391 a month.
So, she applied for a court-appointed lawyer. “I understand I may be required to repay the state for all or part of my attorney fees and costs,” read a declaration typed in small bold print at the bottom of the application. Mathes signed.
Two years later, the district attorney agreed to drop the case as long as Mathes paid court fees, including reimbursing the state for the cost of her lawyers. She was reluctant, she says, but agreed to pay $500.
But when her paperwork arrived in the mail, the price was far higher: almost $3,000 to repay her attorney fees.
On television and in the movies, police officers read people their Miranda rights and tell them they will be provided a lawyer if they cannot afford one. But in reality, legal representation is rarely free. The Supreme Court has found the Constitution guarantees the right to counsel but allows states, in most cases, to try to recoup the cost. More than 40 do so, according to a 2022 report by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
Iowa takes these efforts to the extremes, an investigation by The Marshall Project found. Not only does Iowa impose some of the highest fees in the nation — affecting tens of thousands of people each year — it also charges poor people for legal aid even if they are acquitted or the cases against them are dropped. The practice is “definitely an outlier,” said Lisa Foster, co-executive director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, an advocacy organization that tracks court debts.
When state judges impose fees, “they follow the Iowa Code, which sets forth applicable amounts,” Steve Davis, director of communications for the Iowa Judicial Branch, wrote in an email.
You can read the full article at The Marshall Project.