Lawmakers approve funding to hire Maine s first public defenders penbaypilot.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from penbaypilot.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Lawmakers are making a second attempt at hiring Maine’s first public defenders with a $8.1 million proposal to the state budget committee. Gov. Janet Mills left $20 million unallocated for lawmakers to distribute across all state programs in her.
Suzanne Dwyer-Jones was charged with impaired driving on May 10. She continued to represent the state’s poorest defendants until she was suspended Thursday.
The temporary director of Maine’s public defense agency likened his first month on the job to a doctor performing “triage” as he has tried to restore financial and operational integrity to a fraught state agency.
Justin Andrus intended to reopen his private law practice late last year, but instead was asked to help the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, or MCILS, get back on track. It’s been one month since he joined as interim executive director of the agency responsible for training and supervising private lawyers who defend the poor against criminal charges and other legal matters on behalf of the state.