The Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, which oversees the legal defense of low-income Mainers, has taken steps to hire a new executive director.

The commission said during an emergency meeting Tuesday morning that it planned to make a job offer to a final candidate found by its search committee.

Most of Tuesday’s meeting was closed to the public and commissioners did not disclose who they had selected.

The commission’s current director, Justin Andrus, announced earlier this year he had plans to leave the position by June 30. He shared his impending resignation in an email that he sent to private attorneys who work with the commission.

Andrus had recently agreed to become the temporary head of the new rural defender’s unit, which employs the state’s first five public defense attorneys and began work in December. In doing so, the commission allowed Andrus to step back some from his work as executive director.

The lead public defender, Seth Levy, resigned on Jan. 20, saying the job was not what he expected but that he was still optimistic for the future of public defense in Maine.

Commission Chair Joshua Tardy said Tuesday afternoon that he was not able to discuss anything beyond what came up in the public portion of the meeting, but that he was “very optimistic that we will be able to discuss in more detail in the very near future.”

Andrus also declined to answer questions about when the offer will be sent, who the candidate is and any timeline for a future hiring announcement, but hoped to share more information soon.

Lawmakers agreed to create the public defender’s office during the last legislative session. And Gov. Janet Mills has recommended funding 10 additional public defenders in the next two fiscal years.

But a majority of indigent defendants in Maine – including juveniles, parents in child protective cases, and people facing involuntary psychiatric commitment – still obtain representation from private defense attorneys who are reimbursed by the state.

Lawmakers agreed in February to raise the reimbursement rate for attorneys from $80 an hour to $150 an hour for the rest of the fiscal year, which the commission has been requesting since last fall when its attorney roster reached new lows.

The commission reported that on March 17, since the change, there were 217 rostered attorneys for the commission, up slightly from 197 on Jan. 12.

Commissioners are advocating to make the new $150 rate permanent.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Everything is bigger in Texas, including Maine’s help wanted signs

Next »

Suspect arrested after shootings leave 4 dead in Bowdoin, 3 wounded on I-295