Crime & Safety

Woodridge 'Criminal Fee' Case Dismissal Upheld by Court

A three-judge panel dismissed a case that challenged a $30 fee imposed on anyone arrested by Woodridge police will stand, according to a report.

Crime doesn’t pay, but the Woodridge can continue to collect a fee from those village police arrests.

A three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit affirmed the dismissal earlier this month of a class-action suit filed against the Village of Woodridge that argued a $30 booking fee imposed on those arrested by the police department, according to the Courthouse News Service.

Jerry Markadonatos, who filed the suit, claimed that the fee he paid violated his due process rights, according to the report. A federal judge ruled that he didn’t have the standing to challenge the fee since he pleaded guilty to a theft charge following his arrest.

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The 7th Circuit backed up the federal judge’s ruling, with one circuit judge writing that the “$30 fee is extremely modest” and didn’t amount to the “level of a fundamental right,” the report states. A dissenting judge wrote that the “criminal fee” was applied indiscriminately against the guilty and not-guilty.

Read more on Courthouse News Service

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