A year after lawmakers agreed to pay court-appointed lawyers more for their work, the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services says the attorneys are being overwhelmed by an ever-growing backlog of cases.
Emily Allen
Staff Writer
Emily Allen covers courts for the Portland Press Herald. It's her favorite beat so far — before moving to Maine in 2022, she reported on a wide range of topics for public radio in West Virginia and was the City Hall reporter for the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota. Emily is not a fan of the cold, but she puts up with Maine's challenging winters because she loves the state's beautiful hiking options ... once the snow has cleared.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime, News
Federal appeals court reconsiders mothers’ wrongful death suit against Biddeford police
Susan Johnson and Jocelyn Welch have spent years arguing that an officer contributed to the deaths of their children when their landlord shot them in 2012.
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Posted inLocal & State, News
Winter storm sweeps across state, leaving flooding, outages in its wake
As many as 65,000 homes and businesses were without power at the height of outages Wednesday.
Posted inLocal & State
Biddeford shooting suspect pleads not guilty to murder, tampering charges
Lorenze Labonte, 25, is accused of shooting Ahmed Sharif in November. New documents show that police say a young sister identified him as the shooter.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime
DNA evidence connects West Newfield man to death of Freeport woman
Newly released documents show that police found Gary Mariner’s blood on Danielle Goodwin’s body. Her blood was also found on several objects in his home.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime
Judge bars jailhouse call evidence in Woodford Street murder trial
Superior Court Justice MaryGay Kennedy isn’t dismissing a murder charge against Damion Butterfield, but she has agreed to bar prosecutors from playing recorded jail calls, a crucial part of their case.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime, News
Judge finds former Cumberland corrections officer not guilty of assaulting inmate in 2020
Vinal Thompson was indicted in 2021 for allegedly assaulting John Katula, an inmate at the Cumberland County Jail. The judge said Thompson acted in self-defense.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime
Judge denies request for new trial for man convicted of 1994 murder
The judge had agreed to consider a new trial after finding Foster Bates’ last attorney waited too long to request a hearing for new evidence in the murder and rape of Tammy Dickson. But the judge didn’t find the evidence strong enough to reopen the case.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime
Judge allows defendant to view arrest affidavit in Biddeford shooting
Lorenze Labonte, 25, was charged last week with murder in the death of Ahmed Sharif, but he wasn’t allowed to see the affidavit supporting his arrest until Tuesday.
Posted inLocal & State
Father of Portland man appeals dismissal of lawsuit against city for Back Cove drowning
A U.S. District judge sided with the city and dismissed the case on Nov. 27. Now, John Cohen is asking the First Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider.