Here's a follow-up to a local item I posted on 11/7:

Superior Court Judge Tina Ainley has struck, from six defendants' plea agreements, a minimum fine imposed by the Yavapai County Attorney's Office (YCAO) as a standard amount, according to an attorney involved in the case.

Attorney John Napper represented the defendants, all of whom had different lawyers in their original cases. He argued that the mandatory $750 fine plus an unwaivable 83 percent surcharge is unfair.

"Those defendants that cannot pay end up going to trial and those who can, don't," he argued. "They (YCAO) are not exercising the discretion the constitution vests in them."

Chief Deputy County Attorney Dennis McGrane said the fines were fair precisely because they were across-the-board.

"Indigency has somehow risen to a protected class" in Napper's view, McGrane said, but "a $750 fine treats everybody the same."

Ainley agreed with Napper, striking the fine as a violation of due process, Napper said Friday.

It's the second recent blow to the County Attorney's standard plea bargain. In October, Judge Celé Hancock ruled that a six-month-old provision stating, "Defendant shall not buy, grow, possess, consume or use marijuana in any form, whether or not the defendant has a medical marijuana card," was illegal.

"When you say 'shall,' you are interfering with the judicial branch (of government)," Hancock said. "My issue with this paragraph is, it makes a condition of probation mandatory upon the court and prevents the court from modifying this condition of probation."

Since then, the provision has been stricken from each plea agreement to come through her courtroom, but that decision is not binding on other courts.

Because she joined six cases in this matter, Ainley's decision sets a precedent for Yavapai County courts.

McGrane could not be reached for comment Friday.