A. Any defendant found guilty of an offense in any court of this state may be imprisoned for nonpayment of the fine, cost, fee, or assessment when the trial court finds after notice and hearing that the defendant is financially able but refuses or neglects to pay the fine, cost, fee, or assessment. A sentence to pay a fine, cost, fee, or assessment may be converted into a jail sentence only after a hearing and a judicial determination, memorialized of record, that the defendant is able to satisfy the fine, cost, fee, or assessment by payment, but refuses or neglects so to do.
B. After a judicial determination that the defendant is able to pay the fine, cost, fee, or assessment in installments, the court may order the fine, cost, fee, or assessment to be paid in installments and shall set the amount and date for each installment.
C. In addition, the district court or municipal court, within one hundred twenty (120) days from the date upon which the person was originally ordered to make payment, may send notice of nonpayment of any court ordered fine and costs for a moving traffic violation to the Department of Public Safety with a recommendation of suspension of driving privileges of the defendant until the total amount of any fine and costs has been paid. Upon receipt of payment of the total amount of the fine and costs for the moving traffic violation, the court shall send notice thereof to the Department, if a nonpayment notice was sent as provided for in this subsection. Notices sent to the Department shall be on forms or by a method approved by the Department.
D. The Court of Criminal Appeals shall implement procedures and rules for methods of establishing payment plans of fines, costs, fees, and assessments by indigents, which procedures and rules shall be distributed to all district courts and municipal courts by the Administrative Office of the Courts.
Added by Laws 1971, c. 341, § 5, emerg. eff. June 24, 1971. Amended by Laws 1990, c. 259, § 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1990; Laws 1991, c. 238, § 34, eff. July 1, 1991; Laws 1999, c. 359, § 6, eff. Nov. 1, 1999; Laws 2000, c. 159, § 1, emerg. eff. April 28, 2000; Laws 2000, c. 323, § 2, emerg. eff. June 5, 2000; Laws 2018, c. 128, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2018.
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