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| Court ruling enables release |
| By Herald News |
| Published: 08/02/2004 |
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The Massachusetts high court last week ordered the release of some indigent defendants who have been held in jail without legal representation because there is a shortage of defense attorneys willing to accept their cases for the low pay offered by the commonwealth. In a unanimous ruling, the state Supreme Judicial Court appears to be pressuring lawmakers to increase the pay for private attorneys who represent indigent defendants, or be prepared to release accused criminals back into the public. "I'm not happy that rapists and other dangerous people are going to be walking the streets because of this ruling, but we cannot have people held without legal representation," said Michele Rioux, past president of the New Bedford Bar Association. The Committee for Public Counsel Services, the state agency which hires private lawyers to represent indigent clients, claims the paltry pay offered by the state has caused a shortage of attorneys willing to accept such cases. As a result, poor defendants have been languishing in jails, deprived of their Constitutionally-mandated legal protections. Wednesday's SJC ruling came in two lawsuits filed on behalf of poor defendants in Hampden County by civil libertarians and the CPCS. |
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