AUGUSTA, Maine — The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant the right to have an attorney defend them. In 49 states, many of those attorneys are state employees. Here in Maine, they're independent contractors.
LD 1686 was proposed to change that.
"We have not yet reached the day that someone doesn't have a lawyer because we cannot find them so that's good but we are worried about that day and I do think that day is coming," said Justin Andrus, executive director of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services.
He added that this is a particular problem in rural parts of the state like Aroostook and Washington counties.
State lawmakers have decided to use $1.2 million to try to fix that problem by funding LD 1686. The bill will allow the Commission on Indigent Legal Services to hire 5 public defenders who can be sent to any courthouse in the state.
"It's small at this point but it's really significant because ... as a state, we've never hired a public defender before," said Sen. Lisa Keim, R-Dixfield.
"It's usually rural Maine that for whatever reason, even if there are lawyers there, there just usually aren't enough or there's a conflict of interest," Keim added.
She and her fellow judiciary committee members were unanimous in the need for a public defender unit.
"It was a large effort very hastily put together at the last minute to say, 'What can we do even to create a small but very significant step forward?'" Keim said.
Andrus and Keim both said that these five attorneys won't solve what's wrong with the public defender system, but the new law is a start.