Maine’s High Court to Decide Whether to Release Defendants, Dismiss Charges Due to Public Defense Crisis

Maine’s highest court to decide if state is providing lawyers fast enough to people who can’t afford them

Maine’s highest court heard arguments Tuesday about if the state has met its obligation to provide lawyers to people who cannot afford them. The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, the Maine Commission on Public Defense Service and the state of Maine agree that indigent defendants — low-income people who cannot afford a lawyer — should have legal representation as soon as possible. The issues are that if there is a delay in getting that rep…

Maine’s high court to decide whether to release defendants, dismiss charges due to public defense crisis

Maine has to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who can't afford their own representation. In hundreds of cases, defendants are still waiting.

Maine high court to hear state argue against order to release defendants held without representation

State courts have already warned that Maine’s failure to provide counsel to poor defendants amounts to a constitutional crisis, violating the Sixth Amendment. (Stock photo by Greenleaf123/Getty Images)After a lower court ruled that the state had violated indigent criminal defendants’ constitutional rights by failing to provide them legal representation, Maine officials will argue before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday in an effort to…