Members of the Amarillo City Council will consider re-appointing Judge Sonya Letson as the presiding judge for the Amarillo Municipal Court on Tuesday, September 12th.
During the meeting, members of the council will consider reappointing Letson to the job of municipal court judge. Council will also consider reappointing Jennifer Cates, Inda Crawford and Sunny Ratliff as associate judges in the municipal court.
The move may be controversial as the appointments come nearly one year after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by attorney Jeff Blackburn against the City of Amarillo regarding the court. In the lawsuit, Blackburn said that the municipal court was jailing residents for being unable to afford to pay fines levied by the court. Blackburn said that the court had effectively created a debtors prison in Amarillo.
The re-authorization of appointments, if approved, will last from 2017-2019.
For more information, visit amarillo.gov.
