HOT SPRINGS -- Attorney Josh Drake says he was fired 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.
According to a ProPublica report, Arkansas is the only state in the country where clients can face criminal charges for failure to pay rent. Drake said he hated the law, and thought it was unconstitutional, violating the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. However, he said he felt he had to continue prosecuting these charges as long as the law existed.
Garland County prosecutor Michelle Lawrence told Drake he was fired because his comments in the article brought unwanted attention, Drake said.
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 Oct. 26. However, Drake said he was still working under the same terms, and was paid for October. Garland County Comptroller Susan Ashmore confirmed via email that he was paid Nov. 2.
According to texts that Drake sent to The Sentinel-Record, Lawrence told Drake his commission was ended by Oct. 31. The texts also reveal that Lawrence reflected on the decision for a week, per Drake's request, before firing him. Lawrence ended the conversation saying she appreciated his work and hoped they could part on good terms.
Lawrence denied comment 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 said, regarding Lawrence's decision. "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 comment on the decision to prosecute the cases because the question surrounded the underlining employment law issue.
Drake said he felt he was doing good work representing domestic violence victims. He said he hates that he is no longer doing that job, but doesn't regret speaking against what he considers a bad law. He described it as a disgrace to the state and its legal system and said he 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."
Usually, Drake said, 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 performing his job duties by prosecuting these cases, though he wishes they didn't need to prosecute them at all.
"The bottom line is it should be a civil proceeding rather than a criminal proceeding," he said.