With this last legislative session’s passage of House Bill 5, those who intentionally cause damage to another person’s property can now buy their way out of a felony! If you are poor, the only way you can get out of a felony is to do community service, and the number of hours have to be set by the judge!
HB 5 amended KRS 512.020 in a couple of ways: First, it lowered the felony threshold to $500, meaning that if you cause damage in the amount of $500 or more, it is a felony. But second, it provided that, for a first offense, if the defendant “at any time before trial” — yes, you read that right, any time — effects repair or replacement of the defaced, destroyed or damaged property, the crime is a Class B misdemeanor. The Court can allow community service commensurate with the amount of the damage, but never less than at least sixty (60) hours, which will then reduce the felony to the misdemeanor.
B SCOTT WEST DOES NOT APPROVE!
Wealth has never heretofore been built into the elements of a crime. Now, a person with means or wealth can buy their way out of a felony, whereas a poor person has to petition the Court for community service, and perform how every many hours the Court believes the damage is worth. Thus, if an 18 year old spray paints a school wall and causes damage of at least $500 to repair or remove the paint, then if Daddy pays a company to come out and clean it up, Junior is facing a Class B misdemeanor, and neither the prosecutor nor the judge can do anything about it; but if Daddy or Junior cannot pay to have it fixed, then it is a felony for Junior, unless he does community service, which will be at least sixty (60) hours, and maybe more!
This is a bad precedent, and in my opinion, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Wealth (or lack thereof) is not normally a “suspect class” for which strict scrutiny is required; but a number of cases have decided that when it comes to loss of freedom and liberty, wealth ought not to be a deciding factor, and a higher level of scrutiny than the “rational basis test” is required.
In the meanwhile, those who cause intentional, extensive property damage, and who have funds available, can reduce their jail liability over objections of the Court, the prosecution, and the victim, and retain the right to vote as well as the right to bear arms.
