California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Gamboa, C087771 (Cal. App. 2020):
primarily on People v. Dueas (2019) 30 Cal.App.5th 1157 (Dueas), which held "due process of law requires the trial court to conduct an ability to pay hearing and ascertain a defendant's present ability to pay before it imposes court facilities and court operations assessments under . . . section 1465.8 and Government Code section 70373." (Id. at p. 1164.) The Dueas court also held "that although . . . section 1202.4 bars consideration of a defendant's ability to pay unless the judge is considering increasing the fee over the statutory minimum, the execution of any restitution fine imposed under this statute must be stayed unless and until the trial court holds an ability to pay hearing and concludes that the defendant has the present ability to pay the restitution fine." (Ibid.) Defendant seeks remand for a hearing regarding his present ability to pay.
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.