Law360, 2/19/25: “Civil rights advocates told the Third Circuit that Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, is jailing defendants for probation violations too hastily, and the panel appeared open Wednesday to reviving a lawsuit against several county judges for more developments.

Alec G. Karakatsanis of Civil Right Corps, representing the proposed class of probationers, argued that defendants were being held for months or even years after only a ‘cursory’ hearing on whether there was probable cause to say there had been a probation violation, with the actual determination of a violation not happening until a second hearing at some vague point in the future.

The defendants at those probable cause hearings were often denied a chance to truly argue their case, with some judges or crimes triggering automatic detention, or defendants claiming they were denied access to lawyers, evidence or witnesses before being locked back up, Karakatsanis told the court.

Given the dispute with Allegheny County over whether those deprivations were an issue, it was inappropriate for a district court to have turned a ruling denying a preliminary injunction ruling into a ruling for summary judgment in the county’s favor, he said.

‘The trial court dismissed our case despite absolutely flagrant disputes of material fact,’ Karakatsanis said.

Judge Marjorie O. Rendell seemed to agree that the case may need to be revived for further development, and Chief Judge Michael A. Chagares also joined in questioning whether defendants had adequate notice of why they were being held for a probation violation.

‘There’s evidence all over the place that needs to be sorted out,’ Judge Rendell said.”

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