AUBURN, Maine — "Protect public safety, but also protect the rights of the accused."
Those are the two main responsibilities that fall on a judge's shoulders, according to former Cumberland County District Attorney Jonathan Sahrbeck.
"It's always a balancing test on what that judge can and cannot do," Sahrbeck said.
Gov. Janet Mills is now accusing Judge Sarah Churchill of failing that test for a ruling she made in Leein Hinkley's probation hearing.
Hinkley was convicted in 2012 on charges related to stabbing his girlfriend and another person. He was sentenced to prison and released early and on probation in 2023. Hinkley was still on probation when he was arrested this past May, accused of domestic violence. Despite prosecutors' pleas to hold him behind bars, he was granted bail and released. The action was criticized earlier this week by unions representing police departments.
"You had the district attorney in Androscoggin County begging the judge, 'Do not release this man out into the public. He's a danger,'" Michael Edes, representing the Maine Fraternal Order of Police, said.
Three days after Hinkley was released, he armed himself with a gun and went to his ex-girlfriend's home in Auburn. There, he started a fight with a man inside the home. Police say Hinkley led police on a chase, shooting at them before he was shot and killed by officers. The man Hinkley apparently started a fight with was later found dead inside the home after it had burned to the ground.
"This is a case that never should have happened," Edes said.
As of Friday, Mills is joining those unions in agreement with their criticism.
During Hinkley's probation hearing, there were no public defenders available to represent him, leading Judge Churchill to lift his probation hold and lower his bail. Churchill said the lack of a defense attorney violated Hinkley's Sixth Amendment rights. She also said she didn't believe she had the authority to appoint a lawyer for Hinkley herself under Maine law.
"In my past, judges have been able to appoint attorneys, even if they might not have been on that list at the current time," Sahrbeck said.
Mills said given the severity of the case, that's exactly what Churchill should have done.
"While Maine law states that the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services is responsible for providing counsel for indigent defendants, there is nothing to prohibit the court from appointing counsel for defendants themselves when the Commission appears unable to provide a lawyer," she said in a statement.
"There's no time I can remember that a judge took the step to lower cash bail or lift a probation hold or dismiss charges because of lack of an available attorney," Sahrbeck said.
Dismissing charges is something Churchill had previously done in a different domestic violence case, which was also mentioned in Mills' statement:
"I have also reviewed the subsequent Lerman case, in which the same Judge dismissed two domestic violence misdemeanor charges against a different defendant, concluding that she did not have the authority to appoint counsel - an assertion I also disagree with."
Sahrbeck said no matter what side you take on Churchill's decisions, the issue in these cases, and all cases similar, clearly highlights a much bigger problem in Maine's legal system.
"Right now, Maine is facing a crisis when it comes to a lack of attorneys who are making themselves available for public defense and that is obviously having repercussions in the court system," Sahrbeck said.
Earlier in the week, the Maine Judicial Branch sent NEWS CENTER Maine a statement in support of Judge Churchill's assessment that not providing defense counsel for Hinkley violated his constitutional rights. It blamed the shortage of public defenders for the problem, rather than the court.
"Until we have enough defense attorneys available to represent accused people, our system will continue to malfunction," the statement said.
Mills did address the lack of public defenders in her statement. She said she will be meeting with the chair of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services to consider what more can be done to improve this issue and ensure that an incident like this never happens again.