ALPENA — A jail inmate appeared in court Monday, his case a small part of a large effort to remove financial burden from the backs of people who go through local court systems.

Travis Johnson, who is currently incarcerated in the Alpena County Jail for unrelated charges, was brought to Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court to discuss his 2017 convictions for charges including domestic violence and aggravated assault and whether he should have to pay for the public’s cost of trying him on those charges.

He appeared as the client of the Michigan State Appellate Defender’s Office, one of many cases the office has taken on around the state in an effort to challenge the long-standing tradition of trial courts charging defendants for the costs of running the offices and handling the paperwork needed to run a court.

In Alpena County, anyone found guilty in a criminal case is assessed $700 in court costs, used by the county to recoup expenses created by the case moving through the court. Previous to 2018, the amount was $600. The assessed amount does not cover all of the actual expenses of processing any one case through the court, according to Bonnie Friedrichs, Alpena County clerk. Nor does it include the additional cost of a case that moves all the way to a jury trial.

Court costs are $700 in Montmorency and Presque Isle counties. Alcona County assess $1,100 for court costs, a number which includes attorney fees and was determined with the help of a state agency.

A report released Sept. 5 by the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission called the current trial court funding system “broken.”

Court costs and other expenses levied on defendants amounts to more than $418 million in fines and fees statewide each year. The current system places an undue expectation on judges to be fair to defendants when the decision of how much to assess during sentencing determines how much money the court has in its coffers, the report says.

The State Appellate Defender’s Office has contested the assessment of court costs for years, according to SADO Deputy Director Marilena David-Martin. The office has pursued cases in counties around the state, challenging the fines levied against indigent defendants.

The public is the main beneficiary of the operation of the court system, David-Martin said. To require a defendant charged through that system to be the one paying for it is unconstitutional, she said.

David-Martin was the lawyer who brought a pivotal case before the Michigan Supreme Court which was decided earlier this year. The Supreme Court left open the possibility of challenging the constitutionality of court costs, which the State Appellate Defender’s Office continues to pursue, their efforts extending as far as the Alpena County Courthouse.

Johnson’s lawyer, Assistant Defender Angeles Meneses, explained that the defender’s office is challenging the court costs in each case sent to the appeals court in which the defendant is indigent.

She represents Johnson and one other defendant in Alpena County, in addition to other clients across the state.

Due to a miscommunication regarding scheduling, Meneses did not appear in court Monday. The hearing was rescheduled for October, when Meneses will be present to argue that those with little to no income should not pay to run the court that is prosecuting them.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.