Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/102735/schilb-vs-kuebel
Timestamp: 2017-12-12 06:22:33
Document Index: 770575602

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 110', '§ 110', '§ 110', '§ 116', '§ 110', '§ 110', '§ 110', '§ 110', '§ 110', '§ 110', '§ 110']

Schilb Vs Kuebel - Citation 102735 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Schilb Vs. Kuebel - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/102735
Case Number 404 U.S. 357
Appellant Schilb
Respondent Kuebel
schilb v. kuebel - 404 u.s. 357 (1971) u.s. supreme court schilb v. kuebel, 404 u.s. 357 (1971) schilb v. kuebel no. 70-90 argued october 12, 1971 decided december 20, 1971 404 u.s. 357 appeal from the supreme court of illinois syllabus illinois law provides three ways in which an accused can secure his pretrial release: (1) personal recognizance; (2) execution of a bail bond, with a deposit of 10% of the bail, all but 10% of which (amounting to 1% of the bail) is returned on performance of the bond conditions, and (3) execution of a bail bond, secured by a full amount deposit in cash, authorized securities, or certain real estate, all of which is returned on performance of the bond conditions. appellant schilb, charged.....
U.S. Supreme Court Schilb v. Kuebel, 404 U.S. 357 (1971)
1. The Illinois bail system does not violate equal protection requirements. Pp. 404 U. S. 364 -370.
(a) The facts that the State has no safekeeping costs where release is on personal recognizance, and has never imposed a charge with respect to a recognizance, provide a rational basis for distinguishing that situation from the situations where deposits are made. Though the administrative costs of the deposit system are substantially the same, other factors afford a rational basis for making no charge under the full amount deposit system. Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U. S. 305 , distinguished. Pp. 404 U. S. 367 -369.
(b) There is no indication that the personal recognizance system is not used without regard to the economic status of the accused, or that the full deposit system actually favors the affluent. Pp. 404 U. S. 369 -370.
benefit. Giaccio v. Pennsylvania, 382 U. S. 399 , distinguished. Pp. 404 U. S. 370 -371.
BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which BURGER, C.J., and WHITE and MARSHALL, JJ., joined. MARSHALL, J., filed a concurring opinion, post, p. 404 U. S. 372 ; DOUGLAS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 404 U. S. 373 . STEWART, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which BRENNAN, J., joined, post, p. 404 U. S. 381 .
the statutory 1% charge on Fourteenth Amendment due process and equal protection ground. [ Footnote 1 ] The Circuit Court of St. Clair County upheld the statute and dismissed the complaint. The Supreme Court of Illinois affirmed, with two justices dissenting. 46 Ill.2d 538, 264 N.E.2d 377 (1970). We noted probable jurisdiction. 402 U.S. 928 (1971).
Prior to 1964, the professional bail bondsman system, with all its abuses, [ Footnote 2 ] was in full and odorous bloom in Illinois. Under that system, the bail bondsman customarily collected the maximum fee (10% of the amount of the bond) permitted by statute, House Bill No. 734, approved July 17, 1959, Ill.Laws 1959, pp. 1372, 1376, and retained that entire amount even though the accused fully satisfied the conditions of the bond. See People ex rel. Gendron v. Ingram, 34 Ill.2d 623, 626, 217 N.E.2d 803, 805 (1966). Payment of this substantial "premium" was required of the good risk as well as of the bad. The results were that a heavy and irretrievable
(1) Under § 110-2, he may be released on his personal recognizance. [ Footnote 3 ]
(2) Under § 110-7, he may execute a bail bond and deposit with the clerk cash equal to only 10% of the bail or $25, whichever is the greater. [ Footnote 4 ] When bail is made in
(3) Under § 110-8, he may execute a bail bond and secure it by a deposit with the clerk of the full amount of the bail in cash, or in stocks and bonds authorized for trust fund in Illinois, or by unencumbered nonexempt Illinois real estate worth double the amount of the bail. [ Footnote 5 ] When bail is made in this way and the conditions of
In each case, bail is fixed by a judicial officer. Section 115 prescribes factors to be considered in fixing the amount of bail. [ Footnote 6 ] Under § 116, either the State or the defendant may apply to the court for an increase or for a reduction in the amount of bail or for alteration of the bond's conditions. [ Footnote 7 ]
and reproduced in Ill.Ann.Stat., c. 38 (Smith-Hurd ed.1970). [ Footnote 8 ]
The Court more than once has said that state legislative reform by way of classification is not to be invalidated merely because the legislature moves one step at a time. "The prohibition of the Equal Protection Clause goes no further than the invidious discrimination." Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U. S. 483 , 348 U. S. 489 (1955).
McDonald v. Board of Election Commissioners, 394 U. S. 802 , 394 U. S. 809 (1969). The measure of equal protection has been described variously as whether "the distinctions drawn have some basis in practical experience," South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U. S. 301 , 383 U. S. 331 (1966), or whether the legislature's action falls short of "the invidious discrimination," Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U.S. at 348 U. S. 489 , or whether "any state of facts reasonably may be conceived to justify" the statutory discrimination, McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U. S. 420 , 366 U. S. 426 (1961); see
United States v. Maryland Savings-Share Ins. Corp., 400 U. S. 4 , 400 U. S. 6 (1970), or whether the classification is "on the basis of criteria wholly unrelated to the objective of [the] statute," Reed v. Reed, ante, p. 404 U. S. 71 , at 404 U. S. 76 . But the Court also has refined this traditional test, and has said that a statutory classification based upon suspect criteria or affecting "fundamental rights" will encounter equal protection difficulties unless justified by a "compelling governmental interest." Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U. S. 618 , 394 U. S. 634 , 394 U. S. 638 (1969); Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U. S. 112 , 400 U. S. 247 n. 30 (1970) (opinion of BRENNAN, WHITE, and MARSHALL, JJ.).
Bail, of course, is basic to our system of law, Stack v. Boyle, 342 U. S. 1 (1951); Herzog v. United States, 75 S.Ct. 349, 351, 99 L.Ed. 1299, 1301 (1955) (opinion of DOUGLAS, J.), and the Eighth Amendment's proscription of excessive bail has been assumed to have application to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment. Pilkinton v. Circuit Court, 324 F.2d 45, 46 (CA8 1963); see Robinson v. California, 370 U. S. 660 , 370 U. S. 666 (1962), and id. at 370 U. S. 675 (DOUGLAS, J., concurring). But we are not at all concerned here with any fundamental right to bail or with any Eighth Amendment-Fourteenth Amendment question of bail excessiveness. Our concern, instead, is with the 1% cost retention provision. This smacks of administrative detail and of procedure, and is hardly to be classified as a "fundamental" right or as based upon any suspect criterion. The applicable measure, therefore, must be the traditional one: is the distinction drawn by the statutes invidious and without rational basis? Dandridge v. Williams, 397 U. S. 471 , 397 U. S. 483 -487 (1970). See Richardson v. Belcher, ante, p. 404 U. S. 78 , at 404 U. S. 81 .
charge under § 110-7(f) is imposed on only one segment of the class gaining pretrial release; (2) that it is imposed on the poor and nonaffluent, and not on the rich and affluent; [ Footnote 9 ] and (3) that its imposition with respect to an accused found innocent amounts to a court cost assessed against the not-guilty person.
We are compelled to note preliminarily that the attack on the Illinois bail statutes, in a very distinct sense, is paradoxical. The benefits of the new system, as compared with the old, are conceded. [ Footnote 10 ] And the appellants recognize that, under the pre-1964 system, Schilb's particular bail bond cost would have been 10% of his bail, or $75; that this premium price for his pretrial freedom, once paid, was irretrievable; and that, if he could not have raised the $75, he would have been consigned to jail until his trial. Thus, under the old system, the cost of Schilb's pretrial freedom was $75, but under the new it was only $7.50. While acknowledging this obvious benefit of the statutory reform, Schilb and his co-appellants decry the classification the statutes make and present the usual argument that the legislation must be struck down because it does not reform enough.
A. It is true that no charge is made to the accused who is released on his personal recognizance. We are advised, however, that this was also true under the old (pre-1964) system, and that "Illinois has never charged people out on recognizance." [ Footnote 11 ] Thus, the burden on the State with respect to a personal recognizance is no more under the new system than what the State had assumed under the old. Also, with a recognizance, there is nothing the State holds for safekeeping, with resulting responsibility and additional paperwork. All this provides a rational basis for distinguishing between the personal recognizance and the deposit situations.
384 U.S. at 384 U. S. 308 -309 (citations omitted). The New Jersey distinction thus was invidious and without rationality, for it was not related to the fiscal objectives of the statute, and rested on no administrative convenience.
B. The poor man-affluent man argument centers, of course, in Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U. S. 12 (1956), and in the many later cases that "reaffirm allegiance to the basic command that justice be applied equally to all persons." Williams v. Illinois, 399 U. S. 235 , 399 U. S. 241 (1970).
In no way do we withdraw today from the Griffin principle. That remains steadfast. But it is by no means certain, as the appellants suggest, that the 10% deposit provision under § 110-7 is a provision for the benefit of the poor and the less affluent, and that the full deposit provision of § 110-8 is one for the rich and the more affluent. It should be obvious that the poor man's real hope and avenue for relief is the personal recognizance provision of § 110-2. We do not presume to say, as the appellants in their brief intimate, [ Footnote 12 ] that § 110-2 is not utilized by Illinois judges and made available for the poor and the less affluent.
C. The court cost argument is that the person found innocent but already "put to the expense, disgrace and anguish of a trial" is "then assessed a cost for exercising his right to release pending trial." [ Footnote 13 ] Giaccio v. Pennsylvania, 382 U. S. 399 (1966), is cited. Giaccio was a holding that an ancient Pennsylvania statute that permitted the jury to impose court costs upon an acquitted defendant, in order to offset the expenses of prosecution, violated the Due Process Clause because of vagueness and the absence of any standards preventing the arbitrary imposition of costs. The Court thus did not reach the merits, although MR. JUSTICE STEWART and Mr. justice Fortas, each separately concurring, 382 U.S. at 382 U. S. 405 , felt that the very imposition of costs upon an acquitted defendant was violative of due process.
to secure the appearance of defendants at trial. [ Footnote 2/1 ] Cf. Stack v. Boyle, 342 U. S. 1 (1951). Those who did not have the resources to post their own bond were at the mercy of the bondsman, who could exact exorbitant fees and unconscionable conditions for acting as surety. [ Footnote 2/2 ] See A. Beeley, The Bail System in Chicago 39 (1927); D. Freed & P. Wald, Bail in the United States: 1964, p. 34 (1964); R. Goldfarb, Ransom 92-126 (1965); Ares & Sturz, Bail and the Indigent Accused, 8 Crime & Delinquency 12 (1962); Boyle, Bail Under the Judicial Article, 17 DePaul L.Rev. 267, 272 (1968); Note, 106 U.Pa.L.Rev. 693 (1958); Note, 102 U.Pa.L.Rev. 1031 (1954). Criminal defendants often paid more in fees to bondsmen for securing their release than they were later to pay in penalties for their crimes. Bowman, The Illinois Ten Per Cent Bail Deposit Provision, 1965 U.Ill.L.F. 35, 36.
It was in response to the abuses and inequities of the commercial bonding system that Illinois enacted the statutory scheme now under attack. [ Footnote 2/3 ] The Supreme Court of Illinois indicated
which reduces to a fraction of the previous cost the financial burden on those required to post cash bonds, actually benefits the indigent. [ Footnote 2/4 ]
I do not reach the question of equal protection, but rest my decision on the issue stirred, but not decided, in Giaccio v. Pennsylvania, 382 U. S. 399 . The plaintiff in this action, John Schilb, was charged (1) with leaving the scene of an automobile accident and (2) obstructing traffic. He posted a 10% bond on each charge -- one for $50 and one for $25; he was acquitted on the first one and was charged $7.50 on the two bonds.
The 1% charge is a part of the cost of a criminal prosecution, imposed even on an innocent person who is accused of a crime and who is put to the expense and anguish of a trial. Giaccio involved a state statute which directed juries "in all cases of acquittals" to determine whether the government or the defendant should pay the costs. 382 U.S. at 382 U. S. 400 -401. We held the Act unconstitutional on grounds of vagueness. MR. JUSTICE STEWART, concurring, said:
382 U.S. at 382 U. S. 405 .
Some costs are the unavoidable consequences of a system of government which is required to proceed against its citizens in a public trial in an adversary proceeding. Yet I see no basis for saying that an accused must bear the costs incurred by the Government in its unsuccessful prosecution of him. Imposition of costs upon individuals who have been acquitted has long been eschewed by our courts. E.g., State v. Brooks, 33 Kan. 708, 715, 7 P. 591, 596 (1885); Biester v. State, 65 Neb. 276, 91 N.W. 416 (1902); Childers v. Commonwealth, 171 Va. 456, 198 S.E. 487 (1938). Some jurisdictions have provided that the imposition of costs upon acquitted individuals is reprehensible. See, e.g., Costs in Criminal Cases Act, 15 & 16 Geo. 6 & 1 Eliz. 2, c. 48 (1952); Report of the Attorney General's Committee on Poverty and the Administration of Criminal Justice 31-32 (1963); Goldberg, Equality and Governmental Action, 39 N.Y.U.L.Rev. 205, 223-224 (1964); Note, 1962 Wash.U.L.Q. 76. Where there is such uniform condemnation of a practice as onerous as the imposition of costs upon acquitted defendants, cf. Leland v. Oregon, 343 U. S. 790 , 343 U. S. 798 (1952), I would conclude, with JUSTICES STEWART and Fortas in Giaccio, that it violates due process.
It is, however, said that the 1% charge is not "a vehicle for the imposition of costs of prosecution," and that it is merely "an administrative cost imposed upon all those, guilty and innocent alike, who seek the benefit of § 110-7." Ante at 404 U. S. 370 , 404 U. S. 370 -371. The costs of administering the bail system occur, by definition, only during the course of criminal prosecutions. They are as much an element of the costs of conducting criminal cases as the prosecutor's salary, the fee for docketing an appeal, or the per diem paid to jurors. Nor does the rubric "administrative" require a contrary result. If this were the talisman through which a State could impose its costs upon acquitted defendants, I could see no stopping point
On the other aspects of the case, facts are absent which we would need to know if we are to make an informed judgment on the requirements of equal protection. The discrimination condemned is an "invidious" one, it being recognized over and again that "legislation may impose special burdens upon defined classes in order to achieve permissible ends." Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U. S. 305 , 384 U. S. 309 . The elimination of the professional bondsman seems to me to be a permissible end. The provision for the 10% bond is, in that view, an ameliorating one. The problem on which this record leaves us in the dark is the actual working of that provision and the provision for release on personal recognizance. Not everyone, I assume, is entitled to pretrial release. Equal protection would seem to require that each, whether rich or poor, black or white, is entitled to release on personal recognizance if he meets the requirements of stability, reputation, community ties, and so on. In Illinois the record is silent [ Footnote 2/5 ]
as to how the system of release on personal recognizance, as contrasted to release on the 10% bond, is in fact, administered. The manner of administration may, of course, raise serious equal protection questions. For a statute fair on its face may be administered in an invidious way. As stated in Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356 , 118 U. S. 373 -374:
If that were the experience of Illinois, the State certainly could not be charged with making an invidious discrimination against the other group, even though the cost of administering the personal recognizance program was as high as the cost of administering the bail program. Cf. Richardson v. Belcher, ante, p. 404 U. S. 78 ; United States v. Maryland Savings-Share Ins. Corp., 400 U. S. 4 (1970); McDonald v. Board of Election Commissioners, 394 U. S. 802 (1969); McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U. S. 420 (1961); Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U. S. 483 (1955); Metropolis Theatre Co. v. City of Chicago, 228 U. S. 61 (1913). Cost of administration is only one item for comparison. The lessened burden on the State accruing from the few convictions and the resultant jail term sentences is a factor that a State may take into consideration. Certainly if the Illinois experience parallels the Manhattan experience, we would be hard put to say that Illinois shows an invidious discrimination against those who can only make bail as compared with those who are qualified to be released on personal recognizance.
bail bondsmen who had customarily collected 10% of the amount of a bond as a fee, which they retained whether or not the conditions of bond were met by the accused. [ Footnote 3/1 ] Before 1963, accused persons who could not obtain release on their own recognizance had no choice but to offer the full amount of the bail that was set. The primary innovation of bail reform was to create a class of "ten-percenters," persons who could gain release by depositing only 10% of the required bail.
It is common ground that the Illinois bail reform scheme reflects an admirable attempt to reduce the cost of liberty for those awaiting trial. Chapter 38, § 110-7(f), does arbitrarily discriminate, however, against the appellant and those similarly situated. [ Footnote 3/2 ] As this Court said in Rinaldi v. Yeager, 384 U. S. 305 :
Id. at 384 U. S. 308 -309 (citations omitted).
greater for those who use the other methods of obtaining pretrial release. [ Footnote 3/3 ] Can the appellees constitutionally justify the selective imposition of administrative costs? [ Footnote 3/4 ] I think not.
548, 264 N.E.2d at 382. Those who deposit 10%, said the court, "are not automatically placed in this class . . . by the law. They join only by the exercise of their own volition." Whether many persons accused of crimes can really choose between paying 10% or paying the full amount (or securing double the amount in real estate) is highly debatable. [ Footnote 3/5 ] But however that may be, it is clear that not every person accused of a crime is free to choose to be released on his own recognizance. Yet those who are fortunate enough to be so released need pay no costs whatever.
The appellees argue that those who pay only 10% are being given a benefit that justifies imposing a burden. The appellees say that such persons are not required to put up the full amount of the bail set and that the 1% such persons do ultimately pay is a boon by comparison to the 10% of required bail that they would have automatically forfeited to the bondsman under the old procedures governing bail. This justification, however, also fails to distinguish between the "ten-percenters" and those who are released on their own recognizance. Obviously, those released on their own recognizance receive an even greater benefit than those who deposit 10%, since they give no money to the State at any time if they meet the conditions of release. [ Footnote 3/6 ]
The appellees attempt to distinguish between those released on their own recognizance and the "ten-percenters" by noting that the recognizance practice is "historic," whereas the cost-retention provision was recently enacted to end the evils spawned by bail bondsmen. [ Footnote 3/7 ] This distinction, however, does not confront the reality that both classes of persons receive benefits, and only one class must pay administrative costs. A second attempt to distinguish between those released on their own recognizance and those who deposit 10% turns on the idea that the members of the former class are more "worthy" of the benefit they receive, and therefore may rationally be required to pay less. But while the criteria used by judges to determine release on one's own recognizance -- e.g., length of residence in the jurisdiction, marital status, employment record, or past criminal record -- are obviously relevant to the recognizance decision, they are
The dissent in the Illinois Supreme Court took "judicial notice of the fact that many defendants cannot afford to pay the full amount of the bail." 46 Ill.2d at 553, 264 N.E.2d at 385. From this basic fact, it can be argued that, since many of those accused have no choice but to deposit 10%, the imposition of administrative costs upon that class alone amounts to a violation of the Equal Protection and the Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U. S. 12 .