Refunds For Overturned Convictions?

People convicted of criminal charges, only to later have those convictions overturned, have the right to be refunded any fines and fees, a UCLA law professor argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. People who are freed are “entitled to get their money back,” Professor Stuart Banner said, a “proposition almost too obvious to need stating.” Banner works with UCLA’s Supreme Court Clinic, an organization that is appealing on behalf of Shannon Nelson, a Colorado woman who paid $702 in fees and restitution after she was convicted of abusing her children. Colorado officials refused to return that money when the conviction was overturned. In oral arguments, the Justices appeared sympathetic to Nelson’s plight, and surprised by the hardline stance taken by Colorado’s attorney. When Chief Justice John Roberts posed a hypothetical – that the state could fine every person convicted of a crime $10,000 and keep the money if convictions were later overturned – Colorado Solicitor General Frederick Yarger said yes. Justice Stephen Breyer told Yarger, “It doesn’t seem very fair.” The UCLA clinic has said Colorado was the only state to enforce such a rigid rule.