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AUGUSTA — Maine lawmakers are considering another measure to shore up the state’s public defense system and address a large backlog of cases.
Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cape Elizabeth) is proposing a bill to add five new assistant district attorneys to represent defendants who can’t afford a lawyer. The emergency bill is in response to a judge’s decision to set an April 7 deadline to begin considering who should be let out of jail if they don’t have an attorney.
Carney told the Judiciary Committee that the state has an obligation to meet the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that criminal defendants be provided an attorney.
“The other thing at stake is really the rights of Mainers to live in a safe community and in some instances, there are some people who could be released from incarceration who would present a public safety threat,” she said.
The ACLU sued the state in 2022 alleging that the state is violating the Sixth Amendment rights of “hundreds of people across the state” by failing to provide attorneys to those accused of crimes.
After a trial earlier this year, a judge ruled in favor of the ACLU and said that starting April 7, a process will be put in place to determine whether some defendants should be let out of jail because the state didn’t provide them an attorney.
Carney’s bill proposes to spend about $3 million over two years to add to the number of public defenders in the state. But it also proposes to give judges the power to assign attorneys to cases and require the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services to pay them.
That part of the bill is opposed by the commission’s executive director, who said it will “torpedo the work of the commission.”
“I’m already doing this, behind the scenes, with the trial judges for a year,” said Jim Billings.
Billings said he would lose the ability to control invoices submitted by attorneys and it would undercut the power he has to oversee the work of the attorneys hired in the system.
“I don’t believe this judicial end run around our rules will make a difference,” he said.
Billings said he does support the part of the bill that calls for hiring additional attorneys, saying they will make a difference in cutting the caseload.
“We will put these positions to use, it’s not enough, but it will be appreciated, and they will make a difference,” he said.
The committee will debate the bill in the coming weeks.
