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.

A mostly empty courtroom with only the judge and a court employee in the room.

Advisors to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights urge Maine lawmakers to pay for indigent defense

Lawmakers recommend keeping $150 an hour pay raise for lawyers and adding a $3 million public defender office.

BySamantha Hogan

March 9, 2023

A phone hangs on a wall inside a common area at a jail.

Maine lawmakers consider making jail phone calls to lawyers free

Proposed legislation seeks to protect defendant rights to attorney-client privilege in jails.

BySamantha Hogan

March 5, 2023

Justin Andrus poses for a photo with the dome of the Maine State House in the distance.

Executive director of Maine’s public defense agency will resign

Justin Andrus will be second lawyer to leave MCILS this year

BySamantha Hogan

February 21, 2023

The frame that once held the sign for the law offices of Christopher James Whalley.

Ellsworth lawyer criminally indicted for alleged theft from deceased client

Christopher Whalley, who was disbarred in December 2022, is charged with theft by misapplication.

BySamantha Hogan

February 15, 2023

A silhouette image of Justin Andrus, posing for a photo with the dome of the Maine State House in the distant background.

State officials say legal work for poor clients will continue after resignation of top public defender

Nathaniel Seth Levy announced he would depart from Maine's budding public defender project last Friday.

BySamantha Hogan

January 26, 2023

A mostly empty courtroom with only the judge and a court employee in the room.

New public defenders help but don’t fully alleviate court’s troubles finding enough defense lawyers

The director of indigent legal services cautions that five people are not enough to solve the systemic problems.

BySamantha Hogan

January 15, 2023

Gov. Janet Mills talking while standing at a podium during the release of the proposed budget.

Gov. Mills includes additional $17 million for public defenders and contracted lawyers in budget proposal

An additional 10 public defenders and tiered hourly wages for contracted counsel included in state budget plan

BySamantha Hogan

January 11, 2023