Samantha Hogan

133 posts

Samantha Hogan focuses on government accountability projects for The Maine Monitor. She joined the newsroom as its first full-time reporter in 2019 with Report for America. Samantha was named the 2021 Maine’s Journalist of the Year by the Maine Press Association, and spent 2020 reporting on Maine’s court system through the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. Her reporting on county jails recording and listening to attorney-client phone calls won the Silver Gavel award from the American Bar Association and was also a semi-finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2023. Samantha previously worked for The Frederick News-Post and interned twice for The Washington Post.

Missed deadline will delay major public defender reforms

Major reforms to Maine’s public defense system are expected to be delayed until at least 2021, after the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services missed its window to submit rule changes by more than five weeks.

BySamantha Hogan

February 27, 2020

The black dome of the Maine State House stands among the trees.

Maine public defense under scrutiny: Five things to know

As a yearlong probe into the financial management of Maine’s public defense system begins to take shape, here are the five things you need to know.

BySamantha Hogan

January 9, 2020

Young School Principal Peter Harrison stands amid a group of students

The Waitlist: Maine has a school infrastructure problem

Half of Maine’s public school buildings have exceeded their life expectancy or have documented structural problems that require major renovation. But retiring and rebuilding a school can take a decade or longer.

BySamantha Hogan

December 19, 2019

OPEGA Director Danielle Fox speaks at a hearing.

Government Oversight votes to investigate Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services

An investigation into how Maine pays private attorneys to represent the state’s poor in court unanimously passed the Government Oversight committee on Tuesday as lawmakers aim to separate “actual overbilling” from billing errors uncovered in the last three years.

BySamantha Hogan

December 10, 2019

In defense of defendants: Does Maine’s public defense system violate Constitution?

Plea deals negotiated before defendants meet with the state’s free ‘Lawyer of the Day’ have Maine defense attorneys calling a constitutional foul.

BySamantha Hogan

November 26, 2019

members of a commission listen to the testimony of anthony sanborn

In the crosshairs: Advocates voice concerns about Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services

Defense attorneys, criminal justice advocates and formerly incarcerated individuals share concerns about the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services during marathon public hearing.

BySamantha Hogan

November 20, 2019

A bronze statute of a scales of justice figurine.

The high cost of poor defense

Potential over-billing by lawyers and a lack of visibility into the hours worked by those attorneys have sparked multiple investigations of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services

BySamantha Hogan

November 14, 2019