Some people are more equal than others

By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
March 9, 2003
The way about a third of all misdemeanor arrests in Meridian and Lauderdale County happen has always bothered me the third that no law enforcement officer is ever involved in.
I'm talking about the third that happen after someone goes to the police station or the Justice Court, makes a complaint and swears out an affidavit. In these cases, the arrest simply happens without any law enforcement officer ever looking into the situation.
The idea is that a Municipal Court judge or a Justice Court judge will sort it out later in a courtroom.
In some cases, affidavit arrests have merit.
In many, however, it's a case of people involved in a nasty divorce running down to the police station every couple of days to swear out a new complaint against an estranged spouse. Bad neighbors also do it a lot and folks who like making threats more than they like working it out.
When these kinds of arrests happen, I'm often the person at the newspaper who ends up on the phone with someone who doesn't want their name listed in the arrest report.
Some people take the news that we can't make exceptions better than others. The best consolation we can offer is this: If you're acquitted or the charges are dismissed, that will also be in the newspaper.
I've always wished the city and the county had a procedure to evaluate complaints before people are arrested.
Probable cause'
So, it was interesting Friday to attend a court hearing whose purpose was exactly that to determine beforehand whether the arrest of a person accused of a misdemeanor would be justified.
It's called a "probable cause" hearing.
In this case, the charge under discussion was simple assault.
A judge presided, and both sides were represented by lawyers. The people making the complaint testified about what happened. The accused person's attorney had an opportunity to cross-examine these witnesses. The judge asked questions of his own.
In the end, the judge ruled that no probable cause existed to arrest the accused person because he had no "intent" to commit a crime. That no significant injury occurred also seems to have played into the judge's decision.
I was actually less interested in the outcome of the hearing than I was in the fact that it happened at all. Because for most people, it doesn't. As a matter of fact, it happens for only a few people accused of misdemeanor crimes.
As a matter of fact, it happens for only public school teachers and law enforcement officers.
Two problems
A couple of years ago, the Mississippi State Legislature carved out an exception for cops and school teachers.
Before an arrest warrant can be issued against either for a misdemeanor which is alleged to have occurred while they were performing their jobs, a probable cause hearing must be held before a Circuit Court judge.
I don't doubt that people in both professions are at more risk of malicious arrest, but that really isn't the point.
In this country, where all men are created equal, it seems that some people are more equal than others or at least entitled to more due process.
What's good enough for me and most of you isn't good enough for cops and school teachers. Your misdemeanor arrest happens after somebody, anybody, makes a complaint against you. Swear out an affidavit against a cop or a school teacher, and you have to justify it before a Circuit Court judge.
And, this is my second problem.
Probable cause hearings for cops and school teachers don't even occur in the court which will, potentially, decide their cases. They don't happen before a Municipal Court judge or a Justice Court judge. That also is not good enough for a select group of Mississippi citizens.
Circuit Court judges, whose job is to preside over court proceedings in felony crimes and only after a grand jury has indicted the defendant, preside over misdemeanor probable cause hearings for cops and school teachers.
Are probable cause hearings a good idea? Sure, they are. But only if everybody gets one. This law, while well-intentioned, sounds unconstitutional to me.