A judge has scheduled a two-week trial in December to address Maine’s indigent defense crisis, nearly three years after a civil rights organization first filed a lawsuit over the issue.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine is suing the state, alleging that it is violating the constitutional rights of criminal defendants who can’t afford legal counsel, who are entitled to a lawyer at the state’s expense.
At least 800 people accused of crimes were waiting for a court-appointed lawyer, according to an ACLU analysis of court data on Monday. A quarter of those people were in jail. Roughly 670 had been waiting more than 10 days for a lawyer, according to the ACLU, and more than 450 had been waiting more than a month.
That’s because the state does not have enough attorneys, mostly private lawyers, taking on court-appointed work.
At trial, the ACLU will ask the court to declare that Maine is violating both state and …