Judge accepted pair of shoes in lieu of cash for man's bail

A Massachusetts man told a Framingham District Court judge on Friday that he had no money to post bail, but he had something else he could give – shoes. Jason Duval, 39, told Judge Douglas Stoddart he would provide the new Nike sneakers he got for Christmas, valued at around $85, in exchange for his release. “Okay, we’ll take them,” Stoddart said.

Framingham Police had arrested Duval at his apartment on Thursday on a Natick District Court warrant that originally charged him with two counts of possession of a Class B substance, possession of a Class C substance and driving to endanger. Those charges, stemming from 2012, were to be dismissed upon payment of court fees. The court issued the warrant for Duval’s arrest because he had not paid $450 in court costs.
Duval said he was going through a divorce and had no money. Stoddart told Duval he didn’t trust him to release him without bail because the judge said he didn't believe Duval would pay any money. He offered to send Duval to jail for a few days and then do away with the court costs, but Duval said he didn't want that to happen. “I’ll give you a chance to be creative,” said Stoddart.
“If you can come up with a creative idea to convince me that you’ll come back, I’ll work with you.” After a brief break, Duval offered up his new shoes. Stoddart took those as bail and told Duval he would get the sneakers back after he paid $100 in $25 weekly installments, beginning on Jan. 13. The judge said he would also return the shoes if Duval did 10 hours of community service in that time frame.