More than 100 Criminal Cases Could Be Dismissed This Week in Boston

800+ criminal cases could be dismissed in coming weeks as crisis grows across Mass.

The ongoing crisis in Massachusetts prompted by the refusal of some private defense attorneys to take on new cases has left several hundred criminal cases on the brink of being dismissed, according to the state’s trial court system.With the so-called Lavallee protocol in place since early July, both the Boston Municipal Courts and District Courts in Suffolk and Middlesex Counties have been holding hearings for defendants held for more than seven…

More than 100 criminal cases could be dismissed this week in Boston

With no resolution in sight, the Massachusetts court crisis caused by bar advocates’ work stoppage is set to escalate as criminal defendants continue to go without legal representation.

Governor nominates local attorney for Superior Court judgeship

BOSTON — A veteran of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office and longtime appellate attorney has been nominated to become a Superior Court judge by Gov. Maura Healey.

More judges sought to handle hundreds of hearings delayed by bar advocate strike

District and municipal courts in the greater Boston area are seeking more judges to handle the hundreds of delayed cases coming due as attorneys’ strike heads into “uncharted territory.” Many cases are now reaching their 45th day since the bar advocates — private attorneys who take on court-appointed defense roles in criminal matters — began their work stoppage. These bar advocates represent around 80% of indigent defendants in Massachusetts. Un…

Courts seek more judges as legal deadline looms for unrepresented indigent defendants

BOSTON — Citing an ever-growing backlog of cases and the need to comply with a court-ordered deadline, Massachusetts trial courts have asked the Supreme Judicial Court to modify its July 3 order so they can assign more judges to preside over upcoming hearings for indigent defendants who have gone 45 days without legal representation. Under the Lavallee protocol — a legal safeguard established by the SJC in 2004 —  defendants unable to afford leg…

CPCS: Need for emergency protocol has spread to unrepresented juveniles

The crisis caused by private attorneys protesting substandard wages by declining appointments to represent indigent clients is now also threatening the constitutional rights of unrepresented defendants in the state’s juvenile courts, the Committee for Public Counsel Services argues in an emergency petition filed July 21. The petition urges a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Massachusetts juvenile courts struggle as CPCS seeks urgent Lavall…