UFW v. The County of Kern

Over eight years, more than 50,000 people in Kern County pled guilty to misdemeanors without lawyers at their first court appearance as a result of a plea mill system.

Black and Brown people, individuals with disabilities, and individuals with limited English proficiency are particularly impacted by a plea mill intent on ensuring swift convictions at the expense of individual constitutional rights. 

In May 2023, The ACLU Foundations of Southern and Northern California filed a lawsuit against Kern County and Kern County Superior Court challenging the systematic practices which deny poor misdemeanor defendants their rights to counsel and due process. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of UFW Foundation and three Kern County residents.

The lawsuit alleges that probation officers play a prosecutorial role well outside their legal authority by making plea offers to low-income defendants behind closed doors, typically without defense counsel or prosecutors present. Judges then accept these uncounseled pleas in arraignments that often last less than three minutes. Defendants—especially those with disabilities, language access needs, and immigration consequences—often have limited to no understanding of the pleas they are entering into and the ensuing consequences.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to declare these practices unconstitutional and illegal, and to guarantee individual consultations with attorneys for all defendants at arraignment proceedings. The lawsuit also asks the court to prohibit Kern County from relying on probation officers to convey plea offers, and to ensure public access to these proceedings.  

Although Plaintiffs initially filed this case in the Kern County Superior Court, that court’s full bench disqualified itself after determining that the appearance of a conflict justified recusing all the sitting Kern County judges. A year after Plaintiffs filed this case, upon instruction from the Judicial Council, the Kern County Superior Court transferred this case to be heard by the Solano County Superior Court. The trial court judge recognized that the Plaintiffs stated a claim, overruling the demurrers in large part, and noting that the case presents “Kafkaesque circumstances,” wherein “Petitioners credibly claim that they are being denied access to the court and seek judicial redress of their grievances.” The case is proceeding, with BraunHagey & Borden LLP as co-counsel.

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