Maine judge will start releasing people from jail, won't wait for ruling
Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy also agreed to declare that the entire state, not just its public defense agency, is at fault for these Sixth Amendment violations, as the American Civil Liberties Union has alleged in its lawsuit.
"[I]t is the State's obligation to provide indigent criminal defendants with representation," Murphy wrote in an order last week. "Or as counsel for the MCPDS defendants put it very early in this litigation: it is the State of Maine that is the 'real party in interest in this matter.'"
Murphy wrote that she plans to resume the process soon. No date was scheduled with the Kennebec County Superior Court, where the case is being heard, as of Tuesday morning.
Murphy first ruled in January that the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services was liable for not providing continuous legal representation to hundreds of poor, criminally charged Mainers.
She announced in March that she intended to start holding a series of hearings in April to identify and release anyone who has waited more than two weeks without a lawyer. She also planned to dismiss charges against defendants who had waited more than 60 days for a lawyer. Once released, they would still be on strict bail conditions. Any charges dropped could be filed again once a lawyer is available, Murphy said.
Advocates for Maine crime victims said these plans will put at risk the safety of victims whose perpetrators are in jail. The Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence said in January that "victims of crime are bearing the consequences" of the state's constitutional failures.
A lawyer for the state urged Murphy to wait for the Maine Supreme Judicial Court's opinion on more procedural grounds, arguing that Murphy was using the wrong legal procedure for this kind of case. The state also said the habeas process can't legally be applied to felony-level charges.
Murphy, however, disagreed. She said Maine technically doesn't recognize "felonies," and that the criminal code instead using a series of "classes" for sentencing.
View this document on Scribd
Murphy's hearings will follow the "writ of habeas corpus" process. Habeas cases are typically filed on behalf of individual defendants who say they're being jailed illegally — in this case, the law's application would be unprecedented because it will potentially provide habeas relief to a large, yet-to-be-determined number of people, all at once.
"Where a writ has been granted, the purpose of habeas corpus — to swiftly secure the liberty of a person wrongfully detained — would be defeated if the delays resulting from an appeal could pause the discharge of a wrongfully detained person," Murphy wrote in her most recent order.
The ruling results from a lawsuit the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine first filed against the state's indigent defense system in 2022, which has been amended several times to account for a growing crisis of defendants who are entitled to lawyers, but don't have them.
An emergency law recently took effect, allowing the state to hire more public defenders and judges to appoint more private attorneys to cases that need them. The Maine Commission on Public Defense Services also filed a court-ordered plan in April, laying out how they intend to identify unrepresented defendants and get them lawyers.
"This order shows the court recognizes the urgency of this crisis because no person should be incarcerated or dragged through months of criminal legal proceedings without an attorney," said ACLU of Maine Legal Director Carol Garvan in a statement. "The court's decision underscores the importance of habeas corpus protections, which entitle people to a speedy process to challenge unlawful restraints on their liberty. Any time the state chooses to restrict a person's freedom, it is the state's responsibility to ensure a fair and speedy process. That constitutional requirement cannot be indefinitely put on hold because the state has filed an appeal."
A spokesperson for the Office of the Maine Attorney General, which is representing the state and the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services, said it doesn't comment on pending litigation.
Copy the Story Link
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mississippi Supreme Court map violates Voting Rights Act, judge rules
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Mississippi to redraw its Supreme Court electoral map, after finding the map dilutes the power of Black voters. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock ruled the map, which was enacted in 1987, violates the Voting Rights Act and cannot be used in future elections. The Mississippi branch of the American Civil Liberties Union helped litigate the lawsuit, arguing the map cut Mississippi's Delta region — a historically Black area — in half. 'This win corrects a historic injustice," said Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Voting Rights Project. "All Mississippians will benefit from fair district lines that give Black voters an equal voice — and new generations of Black leaders an equal chance to help shape the state's future by serving on the state's highest court.' The lawsuit, which was filed on April 25, 2022, argued the map diminished the Black vote in the Central District. Aycock's ruling notes that only four Black people have served on the Mississippi Supreme Court. All of them held the same seat in the Central District and were first appointed to the position by a sitting governor. Aycock wrote that she will impose a deadline for the Mississippi Legislature to create a new map. Solve the daily Crossword
3 hours ago
Mississippi Supreme Court map violates Voting Rights Act, judge rules
JACKSON, Miss. -- A federal judge has ordered Mississippi to redraw its Supreme Court electoral map, after finding the map dilutes the power of Black voters. U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock ruled the map, which was enacted in 1987, violates the Voting Rights Act and cannot be used in future elections. The Mississippi branch of the American Civil Liberties Union helped litigate the lawsuit, arguing the map cut Mississippi's Delta region — a historically Black area — in half. 'This win corrects a historic injustice," said Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Voting Rights Project. "All Mississippians will benefit from fair district lines that give Black voters an equal voice — and new generations of Black leaders an equal chance to help shape the state's future by serving on the state's highest court.' The lawsuit, which was filed on April 25, 2022, argued the map diminished the Black vote in the Central District. Aycock's ruling notes that only four Black people have served on the Mississippi Supreme Court. All of them held the same seat in the Central District and were first appointed to the position by a sitting governor. Aycock wrote that she will impose a deadline for the Mississippi Legislature to create a new map.
Politico
9 hours ago
- Politico
Maine oyster farmer wants to upend Democratic politics with Senate bid
Platner is running on several progressive tenets — though he rejects the label 'liberal' — and his announcement sets up the possibility of a clash between Democratic Party factions over generational change, Israel and other issues. In an interview with POLITICO, Platner said he would not support Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader if Democrats managed to take back control in the 2026 midterm elections. 'The next leader needs to be one of vision and also somebody who is willing to fight,' he said. 'And I am not seeing either of those things coming out of the current Democratic leadership in the Senate.' He echoed the calls for change that have roiled the party for months, saying it is time to 'really start moving towards building a much stronger, more robust group of young leaders across this country.' Though he's a political newcomer, Platner said he has brought onboard two progressive strategists who have experience successfully running against establishment-favored Democrats: Morris Katz, a top admaker for New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, and Joe Calvello, a former senior aide to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). Platner embraced a number of progressive causes in his announcement video, calling for universal health care, saying 'the enemy is the oligarchy,' and asking, 'Why are we funding endless wars and bombing children?' He also zeroed in on high prices, a top concern of voters and one that helped fuel Mamdani's rise in New York City. Platner told POLITICO he would have supported Sen. Bernie Sanders' recent resolution to block arms sales to Israel. Though he backed several liberal ideas, Platner shrugged off the label. Maine is a reliably blue state in presidential contests, but Collins has held onto her seat since 1997, and whoever the Senate Democratic nominee is will need to appeal to voters across the aisle. 'To call me a liberal, I think is fairly amusing. I mean, I'm a competitive pistol shooter. That's what I do on the weekends,' he said. 'I'm a firearms instructor. I spent multiple years, obviously, in the service utilizing firearms. I also grew up in rural Maine, where guns are a part of our existence.' He said he also differed with 'the Democratic establishment' on 'expending American resources on foreign wars.' Though much of the liberal base has recently called for fresh faces, national Democrats have turned to well-known, battle-tested — and older — candidates in their longshot effort to flip the upper chamber in 2026. Schumer recruited former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, 72, and former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, 68, to launch Senate bids, and Democrats are hoping Mills, 77, joins them. But it appears that Mills will not immediately clear the primary field. Platner vowed to stay in the race even if Mills jumped in, as did Jordan Wood, a former vice president of the liberal group End Citizens United who has raised $1.6 million for his Senate bid. 'Mainers deserve more from our senator than concern without action,' Wood said, 'and I'm not waiting on anyone else's decision to fight for our state.'
