Judge rejects settlement aimed at ensuring lawyers for low-income defendants

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — A judge has rejected a second proposed settlement for improving Maine’s system for providing attorneys for residents who cannot afford them, and she won’t be waiting for a third try.

Justice Michaela Murphy gave the ACLU of Maine until March 8 to file a new civil complaint to include new claims as part of a two-step process. The first phase would focus on helping defendants who are currently without lawyers, while a second phase will focus on systemic changes needed to meet obligations going forward in future years.

In her decision, dated Tuesday, Murphy chided the parties for presenting her with another settlement proposal that didn’t guarantee attorneys to 393 indigent clients who currently lack them. Of those, about 100 are currently in custody in jails across the state.

“The parties in this class action are back before the court asking it to approve a proposed settlement that does not in any enforceable way require the defendants to address their fundamental obligation under Maine law: to provide qualified attorneys to represent indigent defendants consistent with federal and state constitutional and statutory obligations, and to ’develop and maintain a system’ of attorneys capable of fulfilling this function,” the judge wrote.

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