Appeals court: Mississippi woman's 96 days in jail 'unfair'

Source: Associated Press


Jeff Amy, Associated Press
 Updated 5:51 pm, Wednesday, October 25, 2017

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the constitutional rights of a Mississippi woman jailed 96 days without seeing a judge were violated, saying she can sue the sheriff and county that held her.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a lower court, reinstating Jessica Jauch's lawsuit against Choctaw County and Sheriff Cloyd Halford. In doing so, the court made clear all Mississippi sheriffs have a duty to get those jailed promptly before a judge.

U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock had initially dismissed the suit, ruling that because Jauch had been indicted by a grand jury on a felony drug charge, she had no right to a quick hearing.

Jauch, now 35, was arrested on traffic charges in 2012 and held after being served with the drug indictment. While in jail, she says she was forced to temporarily sign over her daughter's custody rights to her mother. After finally seeing a judge, she was appointed a public defender and quickly made bail. She was eventually cleared of the drug charge after undercover video didn't show her committing a crime.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Appeals-court-Mississippi-woman-s-96-days-in-12305285.php