Pueblo, Teller Counties face ACLU suit for jailing man six weeks without a court date

The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit Thursday against the Pueblo and Teller County Sheriff’s Offices on behalf of Michael Bailey, a man who was jailed for nearly two months while waiting to appear before a judge.

On Sept. 8, 2015, Bailey was arrested in Teller County on a four-year-old misdemeanor warrant from nearby Pueblo County, according to the lawsuit, filed Thursday morning in U.S. District Court in Denver.

Rather than take Bailey to court, where a judge may have set bond, Teller County officials instead waited for the Pueblo Sheriff’s Office to so. Pueblo officials waited more than six weeks before finally responding to multiple notices to transport Bailey.

Colorado law requires that newly arrested detainees be brought to the nearest county court judge “without unreasonable delay,” but Bailey was held in Teller County for 45 days before being transported. He was then jailed in Pueblo County for a week before seeing a judge.

Read more: http://www.coloradoindependent.com/166952/aclu-lawsuit-colorado-pueblo-teller-michael-bailey