Defenseless: An investigation into how Maine represents its poorest defendants

ABOUT THIS SERIES

An investigation by The Maine Monitor and ProPublica found that more than a quarter of Maine attorneys disciplined in the past decade for serious professional misconduct were hired as lawyers for the poor. Sex crimes and felony convictions were among the most severe infractions overlooked in the only state without public defenders. Defendants paid the price.

FEATURED STORY:

An illustration of John Pelletier, the executive director of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services

A low bar for public defense

Maine is the only state in the country with no public defender system. A nine-month investigation by The Maine Monitor and ProPublica found that legal services for the poor are left to private attorneys, who face disproportionately high amounts of discipline and an office that doesn’t supervise them.

BySamantha Hogan Agnel Philip

October 6, 2020

All Stories:

A drawn illustration of the inside of a courtroom. On the left, an inmate dressed in an orange jumpsuit is looking at the empty seat next to them where their defense attorney should be sitting. On the right, sitting at a separate table, is a prosecutor.

Judges, sheriffs ask Maine Supreme Court to dismiss petition filed by woman held in jail without a lawyer

Angelina Dube Peterson is indigent and unable to afford to hire her own lawyer. She waited for weeks in jail to be assigned an attorney.

BySamantha Hogan

October 13, 2023

An illustration of four overworked attorneys, as well as an inmate locked in a jail cell.

Commission endorses statewide public defender network for Maine

Proposed expansion would cost $8.8 million and hire more than three dozen public defenders.

BySamantha Hogan

October 11, 2023

A drawn illustration of the inside of a courtroom. On the left, an inmate dressed in an orange jumpsuit is looking at the empty seat next to them where their defense attorney should be sitting. On the right, sitting at a separate table, is a prosecutor.

Maine’s indigent defense crisis deepens

Advocates complain that defendants are being denied lawyers or assigned attorneys who aren’t up to the job.

BySamantha Hogan

October 8, 2023

A drawn illustration of the inside of a courtroom. On the left, an inmate dressed in an orange jumpsuit is looking at the empty seat next to them where their defense attorney should be sitting. On the right, sitting at a separate table, is a prosecutor.

Civil rights board seeks Department of Justice investigation of Maine indigent defense services

Underfunded system negatively affects attorneys and indigent defendants in Maine, report says.

BySamantha Hogan

September 14, 2023

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