Deputy prosecutor claims comments to news organization led to dismissal

A file photo of the Garland County Court House. - Photo by Tyler Wann of The Sentinel-Record
A file photo of the Garland County Court House. - Photo by Tyler Wann of The Sentinel-Record

Local attorney Josh Drake alleges he was dismissed as an independent contractor working as a deputy prosecutor in the Garland County prosecutor's office after being quoted in a ProPublica article regarding criminal failure to vacate cases in Arkansas.

Arkansas is the only state in the country where criminal charges can be filed against a tenant for failure to pay rent, as noted in the ProPublica report "When Falling Behind on Rent Leads to Jail Time." Drake is quoted in the article saying that he hated the law, and thought it was unconstitutional, violating the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. However, he told the outlet he felt he had to continue prosecuting these charges as long as the law still existed.

Drake alleges he was told by Garland County Prosecutor Michelle Lawrence that he was being fired after his comments in the article brought unwanted attention.

Lawrence said she was "unable to comment upon personnel issues within my office based upon employment law restrictions."

In an email, Garland County Human Resources Director Valerie Dodge said Drake was an independent contractor under a federal grant, and his contract ended in September and was not renewed. The ProPublica article was published on Oct. 26. However, Drake said he was still working under the same terms, and was paid for October. Garland County Comptroller Susan Ashmore confirmed through email that he was paid on Nov. 2.

Drake also showed The Sentinel-Record texts that appear to show Lawrence telling Drake that his commission was no longer in effect as of Oct. 31. The text appears to show her saying she took the week to reflect on an initial decision per Drake's request, but was going to stick with it after fielding calls and speaking to several media outlets (not including The Sentinel-Record). The text ends with Lawrence saying she appreciated his work and hoped they would part on good terms. When asked to comment on the exchange, Lawrence again said she was prohibited from addressing it due to employment law.

"If she doesn't like me saying that it's a bad law, she had a right to fire me," Drake told the newspaper, regarding Lawrence's decision. "I don't want it to be like, you know, I think I was wrongfully terminated. I mean, I disagree with her decision, I disagree with the fact that she even prosecutes these things, but it is certainly within her legal right to do it and I just want to make that clear."

Lawrence also said she could not address a question asking if she would comment on the decision to prosecute the cases because the question was presently surrounding the underlining employment law issue. However, she said she would be able to address some of the matters once they were not intertwined with the issue.

Drake said he felt like he was doing good work representing domestic violence victims and hates he's no longer doing that job, but doesn't regret speaking out over what he calls a bad law. He terms it a disgrace to the state of Arkansas and its legal system, and thinks it specifically targets the poor.

"Taxpayers are paying the police and prosecutors to be landlords' debt collectors," he said. "I've been behind on medical bills, I've been behind on mortgage payments, I've been behind on credit card payments, and never do I get the police knocking on my door telling me to come to court."

Drake said, usually, someone who shows up for one of these charges will work with a judge to find a time to leave the apartment. However, the stakes can be higher for a failure to appear in these cases.

Drake noted that, since these are criminal cases, someone who fails to appear in court will get an arrest warrant for failure to appear, a separate crime. He said in a civil case, failure to appear would result in him losing and a judgment being made against him, but he wouldn't be arrested.

Working for the prosecutor, Drake said he was doing his job as his boss required by prosecuting these cases, though he wishes they wouldn't have been prosecuting them at all.

"The bottom line is it should be a civil proceeding rather than a criminal proceeding," he said.

ProPublica's follow-up on their original story can be found at https://bit.ly/3fUmkb7

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