A dispute between rural Kinney County’s county attorney and misdemeanor judge is raging on in San Antonio’s Fourth Court of Appeals over the judge’s alleged use of a pay-to-plea system that forces defendants to prepay court costs and fines before they can plead guilty.

The jurist at the center of the conflict, Kinney County Judge Tully Shahan, issued a sua sponte order that ended the system critics dubbed the “Shahan Shakedown.” But County Attorney Todd Durden, who claims Shahan is the mastermind behind the prepayment system, still wants the appellate court to intervene.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]