With no home and no job, 59-year-old Charles Richter relies on the goodwill of passing motorists for his survival.
But since the Palm Beach County Commission five years ago enacted an ordinance outlawing panhandling along public streets, the spontaneous charity Richter receives has come with a heavy price.
Cited eight times for violating the law, Richter has racked up nearly $3,000 in unpaid court costs and spent more than a couple of nights in jail.
Using Richter as an example of the disproportionate impacts the measure has had on homeless people, the Florida Justice Institute this week filed a federal lawsuit, asking a judge to declare the law unconstitutional and stop the county from enforcing it.
