Rob Ruffner News Today

District Judge Sarah Churchill likely became the first jurist in the state to dismiss charges because a defendant's right to counsel had been violated.

A Maine woman, unable to afford to hire her own lawyer, waited for weeks in jail to be assigned an attorney.

Advocates for poor criminal defendants in Maine say court clerks are appointing ineligible lawyers to handle cases in an attempt to meet the constitutional requirement that people accused of crimes get representation. The complaints follow a...

When a class action lawsuit was filed in March 2022 by the ACLU, Maine was the only state that did not employ public defenders.

Advocates complain defendants in Maine are being denied lawyers or assigned attorneys who aren’t up to the job.

The ACLU of Maine sued the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services in March 2022, saying it was failing to provide effective legal representation to poor Mainers.

Recommendations would go to the Legislature. It comes after months of reporting by The Maine Monitor.

Maine’s shortage of lawyers accepting new cases is at a “crisis” stage and could collapse the statewide public defense system before spring if state lawmakers don’t make an emergency intervention, officials warned on Wednesday. Commissioners who...

Commissioners who oversee Maine’s public defense system unanimously endorsed a request for an additional $13.3 million to raise the hourly compensation rate.

The Judiciary Committee spent more than 4 hours in a hearing Wednesday afternoon regarding the reappointment of York County District Judge Jeffrey Moskowitz.