Governor Janet Mills has joined police unions in criticizing the judge who lowered bail for the man who was killed following a chaotic standoff with police last weekend in Auburn. But others say that state government bears responsibility for its continued failure to provide legal representation to defendants who can't afford a lawyer.
Leein Hinkley was being held without bail at the Androscoggin County Jail for a probation violation stemming from a 2012 conviction for elevated aggravated assault.
Then last week, Judge Sarah Churchill lowered Hinkley's bail, ruling that the court system had violated his 6th Amendment rights by failing to find him an attorney.
This week, Governor Mills issued a statement strongly criticizing the judge's decision, which she said failed to properly balance Constitutional rights with public safety.
Mills added that "there are simply not enough rostered attorneys with the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services – a larger systemic issue that also contributed to this tragic situation."
Zach Heiden, chief counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, said it's up to the state government as a whole to make sure defendants have representation.
"One branch of government can't blame the others," he said. "The judiciary, the legislature, the executive branch leadership are all responsible."
The ACLU filed suit against the state two years ago for its failure to provide attorneys to indigent defendants.
Heiden said that case could go to trial this fall.
In the meantime, Robert Ruffner, an attorney who specializes in indigent defense, said the issue is far more complicated than one judge's decision, stemming in part from an overburdened criminal justice system.
"I hope we can stop finger pointing and have a conversation about the entire system, and the choices that we make as a society as to what to put in our criminal system," he said.
Ruffner said substance abuse, mental health struggles, housing issues, and poverty writ large are at the core of many criminal cases, and addressing those root causes first could help ease the strain on the entire justice system.
