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Court Upholds Denial of Prisoner Witness Fees
In 1991 a unanimous Supreme Court held in Demarest v. Manspeaker, 111 S.Ct. 599 (1991) that prisoners were entitled to witness fees whenever they testified in federal courts. Just before leaving office George Bush signed into law a modification of 28 U.S.C. § 1821 which forbade paying prisoners witness fees. PLN covered the issue at the time. The fee in question is $40 per day.
Michael Moran is a federal prisoner who was brought to a county jail to testify as a potential witness pursuant to a federal court subpoena. He did not actually testify but spent 27 days in the jail. He was refused witness fees and filed suit challenging the constitutionality of 28 U.S.C. § 1821(f) which denies prisoners witness fees. The district court upheld the statute. The court of appeals for the seventh circuit affirmed, giving Moran short shrift.
"It is hardly irrational to deny fees and allowances to prisoner witnesses. Their time is the govermnent's. If the government decides that some of it shall be spent in the witness box, they are no more entitled to compensation than they are entitled to be compensated for time spent cooling their heels in a prison cell." See: Moran v. United States, 18 F.3d 413 (7th Cir. 1994).
Michael Moran is a federal prisoner who was brought to a county jail to testify as a potential witness pursuant to a federal court subpoena. He did not actually testify but spent 27 days in the jail. He was refused witness fees and filed suit challenging the constitutionality of 28 U.S.C. § 1821(f) which denies prisoners witness fees. The district court upheld the statute. The court of appeals for the seventh circuit affirmed, giving Moran short shrift.
"It is hardly irrational to deny fees and allowances to prisoner witnesses. Their time is the govermnent's. If the government decides that some of it shall be spent in the witness box, they are no more entitled to compensation than they are entitled to be compensated for time spent cooling their heels in a prison cell." See: Moran v. United States, 18 F.3d 413 (7th Cir. 1994).
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Related legal case
Moran v. United States
| Year | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 18 F.3d 412 (7th Cir. 1994) |
| Level | Court of Appeals |
| Attorney Fees | 0 |
| Damages | 0 |
Moran v. United States, 18 F.3d 412 (7th Cir. 03/03/1994)
[1] UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT
[2] No. 93-1186
[3] 18 F.3d 412
[4] Decided: March 3, 1994.
[5] MICHAEL E. MORAN, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEFENDANT-APPELLEE.
[6] Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. No. 91 CR 31. John C. Shabaz, Judge.
[7] For MICHAEL E. MORAN, Plaintiff-Appellant: Michael E. Moran, FEDEAL PRISON CAMP, Duluth, MN.
[8] For UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant-Appellee: Robert Anderson, AUSA, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Madison, WI.
[9] Before Posner, Chief Judge, and Bauer and Coffey, Circuit Judges.
[10] Author: Posner
[11] POSNER, Chief Judge.
[12] A federal statute entitles witnesses in federal cases to a modest fee ($40 per day) for the time and trouble of testifying, along with mileage and subsistence allowances. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1821(b)-(d). (And out of pocket travel expenses, §§ (c)(1), (c)(3), but they are not at issue here.) But if the witness is a prisoner, he is not entitled to the fee or the allowances. 28 U.S.C. § 1821(f). In this case a prisoner was transferred from a federal prison, pursuant to a federal government subpoena, to a county jail, where he remained for 27 days as a potential witness, though he wasn't actually called. He was refused a witness fee, and challenges the constitutionality of section 1821(f). His challenge presents an issue of first impression but little difficulty. Although the federal government has been held to have the same duty under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to avoid arbitrary classifications as the states have under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Schweiker v. Wilson,450 U.S. 221, 226 n. 6, 67 L. Ed. 2d 186, 101 S. Ct. 1074 (1981), all that this requires, so far as treating prisoners differently from nonprisoners is concerned, is that the government avoid irrational classifications. Pryor v. Brennan,914 F.2d 921, 923 (7th Cir. 1990). It is hardly irrational to deny fees and allowances to prisoner witnesses. Their time is the government's. If the government decides that some of it shall be spent in the witness box, they are no more entitled to compensation than they are entitled to be compensated for time spent cooling their heels in a prison cell.
[13] The judgment for the United States is
[14] AFFIRMED.
[15] Disposition
[16] AFFIRMED.
[1] UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT
[2] No. 93-1186
[3] 18 F.3d 412
[4] Decided: March 3, 1994.
[5] MICHAEL E. MORAN, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, DEFENDANT-APPELLEE.
[6] Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin. No. 91 CR 31. John C. Shabaz, Judge.
[7] For MICHAEL E. MORAN, Plaintiff-Appellant: Michael E. Moran, FEDEAL PRISON CAMP, Duluth, MN.
[8] For UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Defendant-Appellee: Robert Anderson, AUSA, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Madison, WI.
[9] Before Posner, Chief Judge, and Bauer and Coffey, Circuit Judges.
[10] Author: Posner
[11] POSNER, Chief Judge.
[12] A federal statute entitles witnesses in federal cases to a modest fee ($40 per day) for the time and trouble of testifying, along with mileage and subsistence allowances. 28 U.S.C. §§ 1821(b)-(d). (And out of pocket travel expenses, §§ (c)(1), (c)(3), but they are not at issue here.) But if the witness is a prisoner, he is not entitled to the fee or the allowances. 28 U.S.C. § 1821(f). In this case a prisoner was transferred from a federal prison, pursuant to a federal government subpoena, to a county jail, where he remained for 27 days as a potential witness, though he wasn't actually called. He was refused a witness fee, and challenges the constitutionality of section 1821(f). His challenge presents an issue of first impression but little difficulty. Although the federal government has been held to have the same duty under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to avoid arbitrary classifications as the states have under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Schweiker v. Wilson,450 U.S. 221, 226 n. 6, 67 L. Ed. 2d 186, 101 S. Ct. 1074 (1981), all that this requires, so far as treating prisoners differently from nonprisoners is concerned, is that the government avoid irrational classifications. Pryor v. Brennan,914 F.2d 921, 923 (7th Cir. 1990). It is hardly irrational to deny fees and allowances to prisoner witnesses. Their time is the government's. If the government decides that some of it shall be spent in the witness box, they are no more entitled to compensation than they are entitled to be compensated for time spent cooling their heels in a prison cell.
[13] The judgment for the United States is
[14] AFFIRMED.
[15] Disposition
[16] AFFIRMED.