Four more people who have been locked up without a court-appointed lawyer are joining a petition filed in Maine’s highest court that calls on the state to identify and release everyone in a similar situation.
The four new petitioners are: Joseph Maile, who has been in custody for 31 days; Tiffany Soucy, 28 days; Benjamin Stewart, 18 days; and Bruce Hoyt Jr., 11 days. All have open cases in Aroostook County, according to new filings by their attorneys, Robert Ruffner and Rory McNamara.
Portland attorney Rob Ruffner, above, and Rory McNamara filed a petition last month on behalf of Angelina Dube Peterson – an Aroostook County woman who spent at least 80 days in jail without an attorney. On Monday, four more people jailed without representation joined the petition. The attorneys say Maine’s judicial branch is the only agency that can identify who needs an attorney and ordering them to do so should be the Supreme Judicial Court’s first step. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer
A petition for a “writ of habeas corpus” is normally filed on behalf of specific defendants and asks a judge to consider if they’re being jailed unlawfully.
The attorneys said Monday that their petition should apply to everyone being held without an attorney.
Lawyers for the two judges and sheriffs who were named as respondents continue to contest the filing, arguing that the case should be dismissed because they don’t believe McNamara and Ruffner can legally file this kind of a petition on behalf of an undetermined number of people.
The two attorneys filed the petition last month on behalf of Angelina Dube Peterson – an Aroostook County woman who spent at least 80 days in jail without an attorney even though two judges agreed she was financially eligible – and anyone similarly situated.
They argued that Peterson and any other defendants should be released from custody. During a hearing with Supreme Judicial Court Justice Wayne Douglas on Monday, McNamara said the only reason they couldn’t list every single person in the petition is because of the state’s “woeful data management policies and procedures.”
He said Maine’s judicial branch is the only agency that can identify who needs an attorney and ordering them to do so should be Douglas’ first step.
Their petition named as respondents the two judges who ordered that Peterson be jailed, and the sheriffs overseeing the York and Aroostook county jails where she was held.
Assistant Attorney General Sean Magenis, who is representing the district judges named in the case, Sarah Gilbert and Carrie Linthicum, asked Douglas to dismiss the petition, arguing that because Peterson was appointed an attorney on Sept. 23 the petition is now moot.
After the hearing Monday, Douglas said he needs more time to decide whether to dismiss the case, or how it should proceed. In the meantime, he asked Ruffner and McNamara, the attorneys who filed the petition on Peterson’s behalf, to file a new complaint with the additional petitioners by Friday.
Douglas repeatedly referred to the petition as “uncharted territory,” noting this is an unusual way to invoke the habeas process. He asked McNamara and Ruffner why they couldn’t seek the same relief through a class-action lawsuit, or from the federal court.
McNamara said producing the number of unrepresented defendants “is exactly what habeas corpus should be available for.”
Magenis disagreed, calling this kind of petition illegal.
Tyler Smith and Michael Lichtenstein, attorneys representing the sheriffs for York and Aroostook counties, said on Monday that their clients aren’t the appropriate respondents for this case, because it’s judges and prosecutors who decide why a person goes to jail and how long they spend there.
Ruffner said Monday that the sheriffs are in the petition because people are still being unlawfully held in their jails – even if it’s not directly the sheriffs’ fault. He said the petition is an effort to come up with a procedure for sheriffs to follow while Maine courts sort out the indigent defense crisis.
It’s not clear when Douglas will make his decision.
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