Petition calls for Wiggins’ impeachment

Published 7:32 pm Wednesday, November 4, 2015

A petition with more than 28,000 signatures is calling for an Alabama circuit judge to be impeached for allegedly forcing defendants to choose between giving blood or going to jail.

The petition, filed on Care2.com, had a goal Wednesday of getting 30,000 signatures. Wednesday afternoon the petition was less than 2,000 signatures shy of that.

“Judge Wiggins needs to be investigated and removed from the seat that gives him permission to inflict such a sentence to these people for whatever their crimes,” the petition states.

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The petition asks the Alabama Judiciary Inquiry Commission to file a complaint with the Alabama Court of the Judiciary.

The court has the authority to “remove from office, suspend without pay, or censure a judge, or apply such other sanctions as may be prescribed by law,” according to the state of Alabama’s constitution.

Those consequences can be handed down if a judge violates the judicial ethical code, shows misconduct in office, fails to perform their duties or if they are mentally unable to perform their duties.

Wiggins’ circuit, which is the fourth, includes Dallas, Bibb, Hale, Perry and Wilcox counties.

According to a complaint filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Wiggins allegedly gave hundreds of people in his courtroom on Sept. 17, the choice of giving blood, paying court fees and fines or going to jail.

“If you do not have any money and you don’t want to go to jail, consider giving blood today and bring me your receipt back, or the sheriff has enough handcuffs for those who do not have money,” Wiggins allegedly said that day.

According to the SPLC, without speaking to the judge, many of the defendants gave blood in fear of going to jail.

“People who couldn’t pay their court debt with cash literally paid with their blood,” said SPLC staff attorney Sara Zampierin in a press release about the complaint.

“This is a shocking disregard for not only judicial ethics but for the constitutional rights of defendants.”

According to the SPLC, it is not legal to jail someone for not having the means to pay their court costs. It is only legal if it is found the defendant is willfully violating an order to pay. The complaint also stated a blood donation is not a “remedy for nonpayment.”

Phone calls made to Wiggins’s law office in Greensboro Wednesday were not immediately returned.