BANGOR, Maine (AP) A study suggests Maine’s system for providing attorneys for people who can’t afford them lacks safeguards to ensure adequate representation and to avoid overcharges.
The 118-page study commissioned by the Maine Legislature found that the state is not meeting its obligations for providing legal representation to the poor.
Democratic Rep. Barbara Cardone, a member of the Judiciary Committee, has submitted a bill that would implement the study’s recommendations. The Bangor Daily News reports that Cardone said at the hearing that “we’ve got to take a radical step in the way we look at these services.”
Maine is the only state without a public defender’s office. Instead, defense lawyers are provided to the poor through the Commission on Indigent Legal Service. Former Gov. Paul LePage repeatedly proposed a public defender’s office.
