By Zach Weissmueller | Reason
Outrage over Garcia’s story led to the passage of a new law in California prohibiting cities from charging defendants for their own criminal prosecution. But it doesn’t retroactively absolve Garcia of his debt. And the lawsuit is also moving forward to set a legal precedent that will make other state courts less likely to tolerate this practice.
“If we win this case, I think it will go a long way towards establishing a standards of prosecutorial neutrality,” says Redfern. “The people who started writing these codes never imagined that they would be giving discretion to enforce them to people who would then make money off of them.”
As for Garcia, he says the entire ordeal has put his family’s life on hold.
