Panama City, Bay County, Florida
Friday, October 10, 2014
By: Kevin Earl Wood, Email: allunited@bellsouth.net
Bay Community News recently reported that Clerk of Court Bill Kinsaul is allowing improper and falsified entries on the public court docket publications that he is responsible for. (“What’s Up Docket??? Clerk of Court Bill Kinsaul Refuses to Correct False and Improper Docket Entries, Florida Probation Services, LLC, Owner Richard Stewart Refuses to Help Correct Docket”).
Bay Community News has now collected evidence that Mr. Kinsaul, through his staff, are involved in an extortion game attempting to “charge, receive, or collect” from criminal defendants money that these defendants are not liable to pay under Florida law.
Section 839.11 Florida Statutes says it all in its title, “Extortion by Officers of the State.” Mr. Kinsaul is an elected officer of the State of Florida. He is extorting money from criminal defendants that they are not liable for.
Section 839.11 F.S. clearly states:
839.11 Extortion by officers of the state.—Any officer of this state who willfully charges, receives, or collects any greater fees or services than the officer is entitled to charge, receive, or collect by law is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083. (emphasis added)
Florida law clearly states that if a criminal defendant is not “convicted” then the criminal defendant is not liable to pay certain fees. Yet, Mr. Kinsaul and his agents send extortionate letters to defendants who won their cases threatening to take away their driver’s licenses if they don’t pay what they don’t owe. A case in point is State of Florida vs. Gary Wayne Beck.
On August 25, 2014, the misdemeanor department of Mr. Kinsaul’s office sent a letter to Mr. Beck threatening to suspend his driver’s license if he did not pay the fees he did not owe. Under the law, this is “extortion per se.”
The letter stated:
Case: 14004267MMMA
Dear GARY WAYNE BECK,
This is a notification of the delinquency of the above referenced case. Your failure to appear or comply with the directives of the court has resulted in this notice being mailed to you. You must contact our office immediately to resolve this matter. Failure to comply with the directives of the court within 30 days and pay a $7.00 delinquency fee to the clerk, as required by Florida Statutes 322.245(1), will result in the suspension of your driving privileges.
You may contact this office at (850) 747-5151 or (850) 747-5144.
Misdemeanor Department
Bay County Clerk of Court
Clerk of Court Bill Kinsaul issues these extortion letters knowing that a defendant that wins his or her case is not liable for these fees.
Section 938.29 established that if you are not “convicted” of a crime you have no liability to pay the fees. The statute states in pertinent part:
938.29 Legal assistance; lien for payment of attorney’s fees or costs.—
(1)(a) A defendant who is convicted of a criminal act or a violation of probation or community control and who has received the assistance of the public defender’s office, a special assistant public defender, the office of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, or a private conflict attorney, or who has received due process services after being found indigent for costs under s. 27.52, shall be liable for payment of the assessed application fee under s. 27.52 and attorney’s fees and costs.
Section 938.29 is clear on the face of the statute that you must be “convicted” AND receive the services of the public defender to be liable for the fees. The word AND in the statute is crucial. The bottom line is that you must be “convicted” to be liable for the fees.
In the above case Mr. Beck was NOT convicted, his case was dismissed by the court. He won his case. Yet the Clerk of Court is attempting anyway to extort these fees from him under threat of suspending his drivers license.
Furthermore, let’s look at Section 939.06 Florida Statutes that essentially provides that if the Clerk of Court successfully extorts a payment from a defendant, that the defendant is entitled to a refund. The statute states:
939.06 Acquitted defendant not liable for costs.—
(1) A defendant in a criminal prosecution who is acquitted or discharged is not liable for any costs or fees of the court or any ministerial office, or for any charge of subsistence while detained in custody. If the defendant has paid any taxable costs, or fees required under s. 27.52(1)(b), in the case, the clerk or judge shall give him or her a certificate of the payment of such costs, with the items thereof, which, when audited and approved according to law, shall be refunded to the defendant.
(2) To receive a refund under this section, a defendant must submit a request for the refund to the Justice Administrative Commission on a form and in a manner prescribed by the commission. The defendant must attach to the form an order from the court demonstrating the defendant’s right to the refund and the amount of the refund.
Clerk of Court Bill Kinsaul directly, or through his staff, do not advise defendants as to their rights that they don’t have to pay the fee up front and if they do they are entitled to a refund.
One defendant interviewed by Bay Community News stated that during arraignment the clerk’s officer even falsely stated that if defendants don’t pay the fees that an arrest warrant will be issued, again extortion by false proclamation by the clerk.
Bay Community News has raised this issue because there are more likely many victims of Bill Kinsaul’s policies and procedures that are entitled to a refund.
Possibly, a Grand Jury investigation should be initiated to investigate a pattern and practice of violations by Bill Kinsaul and staff under Section 839.11 F.S. and also under Section 839.13 F.S. to ferret out a pattern and practice of the violation of criminal defendant’s rights to (1) have truthful entries made in the dockets of their cases and (2) to be honestly advised by Clerk of Court Bill Kinsaul of what they do or do not have to pay for fees under Florida law, AND their right to a refund if the clerk’s office successfully extorts these fees.
Bill Kinsaul needs to step up to the plate to address these matters.