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The state and the ACLU of Maine have reached a tentative settlement agreement in a lawsuit that claims the state has failed to provide adequate legal representation to low-income criminal defendants.
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The ACLU of Maine filed suit one year ago this week, claiming the state is failing in its constitutional obligation to provide attorneys to low-income criminal defendants. Since then, lawmakers created a small, public defender office to take cases in rural Maine.
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The commission asked for $62 million last summer to fully meet the system's needs.
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The bill is now headed to Gov. Janet Mills' desk.
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One agency that did not receive a boost from the governor's $1.2 billion supplemental budget was Maine's Commission on Indigent Legal Services. The funding snub has rekindled questions for some over the future of Maine's embattled public defense system.
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Plea deals handed out and negotiated before defendants meet with the state’s free ‘Lawyer of the Day’ have Maine defense attorneys calling a…
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The state of Maine spent more than $21 million last year to provide free lawyers to people who cannot afford legal representation in court. And while…
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The state commission that provides private attorneys for accused Mainers who can’t afford them says it will take its time in considering the…
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AUGUSTA, Maine - If you commit a crime in Maine and don't have money to pay for an attorney the state will cover the cost. But unlike many other states,…