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 (noting that the state court had failed to adequately determine, as required by Bearden, whether the defendant had "made sufficient bona fide efforts legally to acquire the resources to pay," but nonetheless denying habeas relief because the defendant's failure to pay was due not to indigency but his "willful refusal to pay").

The Ferguson court, however, has in the past routinely issued arrest warrants when a person is unable to make a required fine payment without any ability-to-pay determination. While the court does not sentence a defendant to jail in such a case, the result is often equivalent to what Bearden proscribes: the incarceration of a defendant solely because of an inability to pay a fine. In response to concerns about issuing warrants in such cases, Ferguson officials have told us that without issuing warrants and threatening incarceration, they have no ability to secure payment. But the Supreme Court rejected that argument, finding that states are "not powerless to enforce judgments against those financially unable to pay a fine," and noting that—especially in cases like those at issue here in which the court has already made a determination that penological interests do not demand incarceration—a court can "establish a reduced fine or alternate public service in lieu of a fine that adequately serves the state's goals of punishment and deterrence, given the defendant's diminished financial resources." Id. As discussed above, however, Ferguson has not established any such alternative.

Finally, in light of the significant portion of municipal charges that lead to an arrest warrant, as well as the substantial number of arrest warrants that lead to arrest and detention, we have considerable concerns regarding whether individuals facing charges in Ferguson municipal court are entitled to, and being unlawfully denied, the right to counsel.



Our investigation found substantial deficiencies in the way Ferguson police and court officials set, accept, refund, and forfeit bond payments. Recently, in response to concerns raised during our investigation, the City implemented several changes to its bond practices, most of which apply to those detained after a warrantless arrest. These changes represent positive