![]() ![]() In the past, she has not initially supported requests to substantially increase the state’s budget for court-appointed lawyers. ![]() Janet Mills, a Democrat, was reelected for a second term on Tuesday. Maine has relied for decades entirely on private attorneys who voluntarily contract with the state to represent adults and children in criminal cases and some civil matters who cannot afford to hire their own lawyer.įrank Bishop, president of the bar association, said the shortage of defense lawyers for the state’s poor is a political problem that should be resolved by the governor and state lawmakers. Maine is the only state in the nation that does not have public defenders, though that will soon change with five public defenders expected to start work before the end of the year. ![]() Some people are going days or weeks without an assigned attorney, The Maine Monitor reported. Court clerks across the state are increasingly reporting that they cannot find available attorneys to represent criminal defendants who cannot afford to hire their own. The problem has been compounded by the lack of lawyers willing to represent indigent clients. The first questions Stanfill said she is asked in conversations with lawmakers are about the availability of lawyers and the backlog of open cases in the courts.Ī partial shutdown of criminal court proceedings because of the COVID-19 pandemic has created a crushing backlog of unresolved cases in the state’s courts. ![]()
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