Judge orders $100 pay for select indigent defense counsel as Beacon Hill passes raise

Judge orders $100 pay for select indigent defense counsel as Beacon Hill passes raise

LOWELL — One day before Beacon Hill lawmakers passed legislation to raise pay for bar advocates — prompting disappointment from attorneys who called it a "slap in the face" — a judge authorized $100 per hour compensation for indigent defense counsel in three cases, writing that the defendants' continued detention without counsel was an "egregious violation" of their Constitutional rights.