On Jun 17, 10:33*pm, Evan wrote:
On Jun 17, 7:33*pm, Nehmo wrote:





On Jun 17, 12:59*pm, keith wrote:

On Jun 17, 8:53*am, wrote:

On Jun 16, 5:00 pm, "Don Phillipson" wrote:

"Nehmo" wrote in message

...

The mania about cutting grass has reached insanity. Many
municipalities in the US have laws forcing people to mow their lawns,
and people actually go to jail for not cutting their grass.

This seems interesting because illegal in most countries with Anglo-
Saxon-type laws. * (Habeas Corpus forbids detention without
charge, and disobeying a bylaw is an offence but not a crime.)

Of course you can go to jail in the US for not mowing your grass.
There are not just bylaws in some HOA areas, but also actual municipal
codes in many cases. * Just try letting your yard get overgrown in
clear violation thereof, get hauled into municipal court, get fined
and ordered to rectify it, then refuse to pay the fine and remedy
it. * See what happens. * You can in fact face jail time.

Can you offer a citation for someone who has, in fact, done jail time
for not mowing their lawn? *AFAIK, municipalities are limited to
having the work done and billing the homeowner. *If the bill isn't
paid it's the same as not paying taxes; the land can be sold at
auction.

In Kansas City Kansas, a so-called Code Violation is a misdemeanor
punishable by up to 6 months in jail. The first time fine, even if the
situation is corrected, is typically $149.10. (but sometimes is
$249.10. $49.10 is court cost) If you don't pay or don't show up for
court, you go to jail. I'm personally familiar with the situation in
that city (1), but with a short search, I couldn't find a good link. I
did find one for Prairie Village, Kansas (part of the KC metro)http://www.pvkansas.com/codes/violations.shtml:
"If violations are not corrected in the time determined by the Code
Enforcement Officer, a Notice to Appear in Municipal Court (ticket)
may be issued. When this occurs, the owner/resident must appear in
Court.
Upon conviction in Municipal Court, violators may be required to pay
fines and/or serve time in jail."

These laws are local, so the penalty and practices vary. But yes,
without a doubt, people are jailed for caring for their lawn
differently than what some other people want. I consider this a first
amendment violation, an infringement of freedom of expression.

(1) I watched several municipal Code Violation "trials". The defendant
never won.

If being summonsed to court via a "ticket" which would indicate a
CIVIL infraction which CAN NOT result in jail time is your example
you clearly have no understanding of the law...

Your example sounds a lot like the people who were jailed were
held in contempt of court either due to their conduct in the hearing
OR for their decision to ignore the order of the court to pay a
fine...

P.S. *If the infraction itself was one that would result in jail time
as a potential outcome you would either be arrested by the official
pressing the charge and brought into court for an arraignment where
the charge(s) against you are specified and described and you are
given a chance to enter a plea or you would have been mailed an
official "notice to appear" by the court and provided with an attorney
at the time of the hearing if you did not bring one with you...
You may not be brought before a hearing where the outcome of
being found responsible is jail time without a court appointed lawyer
being available if you can not afford your own attorney...

Also, a criminal offense can be a misdemeanor which only imposes
a FINE when found guilty... *Any jail sentence imposed would be a
separate and distinct charge brought against you for failure to comply
with the order of the court to pay the fine levied against you when
you were found guilty and would be the separate result of a
subsequent trial or hearing process...

~~ Evan

I didn't cite any "civil infraction" (I'm not sure what you mean by
that). The code violations in KC, KS, are criminal violations, as I
said, misdemeanors that carry jail time. they are heard by Judge
Roberts or Judge Ryan. Prairie Village, Kansas has similar laws.

There are several ways a defendant can go to jail for a conviction.
True, one way would be the failure to pay a fine. Another, would be to
fail to show up for court, and so on. But a defendant can go to jail,
even directly.

* Nehmo