Maine is violating the constitutional rights of hundreds of people who have been accused of crimes by not offering them continuous legal representation, a judge ruled Friday.

Mainers who face criminal charges are entitled to a lawyer when they can’t afford their own, under both state law and the U.S. Constitution. The Maine Commission on Public Defense Services is responsible for finding qualified attorneys whom judges can assign to represent poor criminal defendants.

But for more than a year, the commission has struggled to find enough lawyers for hundreds of people, many of whom are in jail. On Friday, there were more than 930 cases that needed representation.

Superior Court Justice Michaela, seen in December 2023, said in her ruling Friday that the law requires not only that defendants have an attorney, but one who is familiar with the case and prepared to preserve evidence, challenge the state’s allegations or work out a plea agreement. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

The ACLU of Maine sued the commission in March 2022. The ACLU has argued this is a clear violation of Mainers’ rights under the Sixth Amendment and they were prepared to take the case to trial this year.

Now, Murphy plans to hold a hearing this month so that both sides can argue what remedy is required when a criminal defendant is unrepresented.

The ACLU has floated several ideas for relief. The state could automatically release some people from jail after waiting a certain amount of time. Charges could be dismissed, or defendants could be given money to pay for their own lawyers.

“After years of litigation, the ACLU of Maine celebrates this decision establishing that our state has not met its obligations under the Sixth Amendment,” Molly Rowles, the executive director of the ACLU of Maine, said Friday night. “Today’s decision confirms that the right to counsel is fundamental and meaningful. We look forward to the next steps in this case and to a future in which all Mainers are afforded their rights under the Constitution.”

A spokesperson for the Office of the Maine Attorney General, which represented the state parties, did not respond to an email Friday night.

The state has denied violating anyone’s rights, pointing out that criminal defendants have access to temporary “lawyers of the day” for their first appearances after they’ve been charged.

At issue is whether the Constitution demands continuous representation, or simply a lawyer at select “critical stages” in a defendant’s case.

Murphy sided with the latter. She wrote that she rejects the state’s “very limited view of what they owe indigent defendants in Maine under the Sixth Amendment — particularly those defendants who are held in jails across the state for days, weeks and sometimes months without any Sixth Amendment protections.”

In her Friday ruling, she said the law requires not only that defendants have an attorney, but one who is familiar with the case and prepared to preserve evidence, challenge the state’s allegations or work out a plea agreement.

Murphy also found that temporary lawyers are not equipped to recognize whether a client is mentally able to withstand trial.

“Indigent defendants whose mental capacities are so diminished, developmentally or psychiatrically, simply cannot advocate for themselves while waiting indefinitely for (the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services)  to provide counsel,” Murphy wrote.

Then ACLU’s class action focuses on eight people who have been criminally charged and are entitled to a lawyer. Some of these plaintiffs said they waited weeks to receive their court-appointed attorney. Others said they received a lawyer but were provided ineffective representation.

Murphy decided last year to separate the case into two phases. The first addresses defendants who have no lawyers and the second will address whether those lawyers are effective.

Murphy ordered both sides to prepare for trial after she rejected several proposed settlements in 2023. The trial was scheduled for December but was delayed while she considered both sides’ requests for a final judgment.