An Orange County public defender is calling for change after a 61-year-old hospice patient was arrested for not paying a court fine from four years ago.
In a news conference Tuesday at the Orange County Courthouse, Bob Wesley, a public defender for Florida's Ninth Judicial Circuit, said the problem of people being arrested on writs for not paying court fines is widespread and affecting people whom Wesley called the most vulnerable.
One of those people, Larry Thompson, is a hospice care patient arrested last week for not paying fees related to a 2011 arrest for driving on a revoked license.
Thompson was too sick to go to jail, so instead he was taken to a hospital for two days as jail guards watched him. He was later taken to jail and bonded out Thursday.
Court records show Thompson owed $850, plus another $250 for his arrest last week.
"I agreed to pay another $250, or I would have had to sit there," Thompson said, adding he could not pay the fine and also have a place to live.
"I couldn't, because it takes out of my budget," Thompson explained. "I'm on a fixed income."
Wesley said there are hundreds of others like Thompson in the district, which covers Orange and Osceola counties. The public defender said he wants the system changed, so they aren't arresting people who can't pay the court fines.
Orlando police said they had no choice but to arrest Thompson, because a felony writ had been issued by a judge almost three years ago.
Circuit Court Judge Frederick Lauten said defendants are given several chances to pay their fines, and if they can't they are to appear in front of a judge and explain the situation. It's after three attempts that a writ is ordered. Lauten says the court is mandated by law to assess some of the fees.