Abigail Farella v. District Judge A.J. Anglin

── Abigail Farella v. District Judge A.J. Anglin ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Date: May 18, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 24-2914 ___________________________ Abigail Farella, All Others Similarly Situated; Logan W. Murphy, All Others Similarly Situated Plaintiffs - Appellees v. Benton County District Court, Div. 4 Defendant District Judge A. J. Anglin Defendant - Appellant Gregg E. Parrish; Jay Saxton, Chief Benton County Public Defender Defendants ------------------------------ Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice Amicus Curiae American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Arkansas; Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; National Legal Aid and Defender Association; National Association for Public Defense; New York University School of Law Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law Amici on Behalf of Appellee(s) ____________  Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville ____________ Submitted: January 15, 2026 Filed: May 18, 2026 ____________ Before GRUENDER, SHEPHERD, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ SHEPHERD, Circuit Judge. Abigail Farella and Logan Murphy, serving as representatives for a certified class of pretrial detainees, allege that Benton County District Judge A.J. Anglin’s bail hearing practices violated their Sixth Amendment right to counsel and their Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection of the law. The plaintiffs and Judge Anglin filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and the district court granted the plaintiffs’ motion and denied Judge Anglin’s motion. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we vacate and remand to the district court. I. In May 2022, Bentonville Police Department (BPD) officers arrested Abigail Farella. She appeared before Judge Anglin, a state district court judge in Benton County, Arkansas, two days after her arrest. Judge Anglin set Farella’s bail at $10,000 and scheduled her arraignment. She was not represented by an attorney. After setting Farella’s bail, Judge Anglin found her indigent and appointed a public defender to represent her at future proceedings. Farella remained incarcerated in the Benton County Jail for more than five weeks until another judge vacated her bail. Ultimately, in July 2023, Farella pled guilty to a misdemeanor property theft charge and was sentenced to time served. -2-  Logan Murphy’s case proceeded similarly. In June 2022, BPD officers arrested him, and he appeared before Judge Anglin the following morning. Judge Anglin set his bail at $40,000 and scheduled his arraignment. Like Farella, Murphy was not represented by an attorney. After setting his bail, Judge Anglin found Murphy indigent and appointed a public defender to represent him at future proceedings. Murphy pled guilty to felony fleeing in June 2023 and was sentenced to time served (113 days) and 60 months’ probation. The Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure provide that bail determinations are to be made at a defendant’s “first appearance,” Ark. R. Crim. P. 8.5, which is to be held “before a judicial officer without unnecessary delay”; this