
Governor Janet Mills has declared war on the one agency that can help Maine get out of its criminal defense crisis.
In her State of the Budget address the governor said the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services “must change,” blaming rules about case load limits - rather than the explosion of cases being prosecuted.
The number of rostered attorneys is currently at around 130 from a peak of more than 400. That is because in the years since 2019 there are nearly 3,000 more pending felonies statewide and more than 3,000 more pending misdemeanors in Maine.
Yet, Ms. Mills felt that pointing at the defense bar was a productive thing to do, while completely ignoring the overcharging of defendants and ten decisions of prosecutors. This practice recently defending a case involving a criminal trespass involving a client who was prosecuted for sleeping in a tent on public land.
Not only that, but the population of Maine is aging, as is the bar of available attorneys. Maine had, until recently, one of the country’s highest bar scores as a clear protectionist measure.

She told legislators: “Now, it's worth noting here that there are some things you will be asked about for which we are not proposing major increases. The budget of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services, for instance, has quadrupled already from $11 million to $44 million in recent years. And next Fiscal Year, it will be more than $50 million. And yet, though we have poured more and more tax dollars more and more into this agency, more and more people than ever are going without legal counsel when facing criminal charges or child protection proceedings.
"The number of criminal defendants who lack representation reportedly skyrocketed by 658 percent in one year alone between 2022 and 2023. That doesn't make sense, when there are about 4,000 lawyers practicing in Maine, that only 130, according to the report, are "rostered" to take new cases.
"Many individuals are facing domestic violence charges, and the criminal defense bar is asking that these unrepresented and potentially violent people just go free. Well, I agree with the Chief Justice and others who’ve said this is a crisis. And because it's a crisis, the Public Defense Commission must do a lot more to find lawyers immediately for people charged with crime.
"That means getting rid of arbitrary case load limits, restrictions, rules rostering requirements, none of which are constitutionally required. It means accepting help from the Judiciary in finding capable lawyers to take cases, rather than resisting that help. And it means allowing the newly created public defender offices - which have shown some promise here in Kennebec County - to handle the volume and type of cases that need to be handled.
"The current system has become a disastrous example of the perfect becoming the enemy of the good, you know. Because Iust a few years ago we had all the lawyers we needed, but not enough accountability. Now we have a system that is so focused on rules that it has driven away the lawyers. The Commission wants tens of millions of dollars more in the budget. But first, the Commission must change."
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