Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services

The three-day trial over Maine's failure to provide adequate legal representation to low-income defendants concluded today in Kennebec County Superior Court.

The trial over Maine's failure to provide adequate legal representation for low-income defendants continued today in Kennebec Superior Court in Augusta.

A lawsuit over Maine's failure to provide adequate legal representation to low-income defendants has finally gone to trial in Kennebec County Superior Court.

The partial judgment, released last week, is the latest development in a more than two-year-old lawsuit alleging that Maine's indigent defense system is not providing adequate legal representation to low-income defendants.

The ACLU has sought to name several defendants in its class action lawsuit alleging that the state is failing to uphold its obligation under the constitution to provide affective counsel for criminal defendants who cannot afford their own attorney.

The changes are temporary and fairly technical, and the commission's executive director emphasized that all attorneys taking court-appointed work will still be thoroughly vetted.

As Maine's indigent representation system struggles, defense attorneys say part of the problem is an overburdened, backlogged court system.

The ACLU and defense attorneys pushed back against the governor's comments, arguing that all branches of state government bear responsibility for the state's failure to provide attorneys to defendants who can't afford one.

The legal organization is currently suing Maine, claiming the state is failing in its constitutional obligation to provide low-income defendants with attorneys.

The additional offices and staff come at a time when state officials acknowledge Maine is in the middle of a "constitutional crisis" because there are not enough attorneys available to represent low-income criminal defendants.