The Maine Supreme Court has halted hearings in a long-running indigent defense lawsuit while the legal challenge is appealed.
The Law Court ruled late Friday that individual hearings for the release of indigent criminal defendants held in jail for more than two weeks without an attorney cannot go forward pending an appeal in the case. Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy had moved to begin hearings with criminal defendants this week, to decide if they were eligible for release.
The State filed an emergency motion earlier this month to stop the hearings, arguing that Maine appellate procedure prevents the Superior Court from taking action during an appeal.
In the Supreme Court's ruling, Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill agreed with the state. But to expedite that appeal, Stanfill scheduled oral arguments in the case for October.