In the aftermath of Berks County Common Pleas Court instituting a policy to provide lawyers to poor litigants facing jail for not paying child support, the state Supreme Court denied the petition of 18 men who said their constitutional rights were violated because they did not have lawyers during their contempt of court hearings.
The state Supreme Court was petitioned in Cepeda v. Court of Common Pleas for the County of Berks to exercise its King’s Bench powers to examine the issue of appointing counsel for indigent litigants facing jail time for the nonpayment of child support. All the petitioners are indigent, were not represented by lawyers during their contempt of court hearings, were not advised that they had the right to court-appointed counsel and were not asked during colloquy to see if they would knowingly and voluntarily waive their right to counsel, according to the petition.
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