Beginning in November, Frayla Tarpinian, who has worked in the Kennebec and Somerset County District Attorney’s Office for more than a decade, is to oversee the first brick-and-mortar public defender office in Maine.
courts
They built houses on a 200-year-old dirt road in Cornish. Then a neighbor blocked their access.
The town says its hands are tied and has punted the issue to the courts.
Defendants in over 100 Maine cases had no legal representation late last week, state says
Maine’s public defense agency puts out an urgent call for help after the loss of another public defender.
New state legal defense director wants to bring young attorneys in to do ‘important work’
Jim Billings took over the reins of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services last month, joining the agency that is severely struggling to find enough attorneys to represent poor Mainers.
Pair indicted on kidnapping charges after woman allegedly held at gunpoint in Waterville
The two allegedly kidnapped a woman and ordered her to drive away from a Waterville hotel where they were interrupted while robbing another woman.
Study: Young adults are overrepresented in Maine’s criminal justice system
A report from the University of Southern Maine’s Catherine E. Cutler Institute calls for expanding diversion and treatment-based criminal justice programs.
South Portland mail carrier charged in dark web drug trafficking case
New York prosecutors say Katie Montgomery offered FireBunnyUSA advice as it shipped illegal drugs through the postal service.
Gov. Mills nominates York County judge for seat on state’s top court
Superior Court Justice Wayne R. Douglas of Old Orchard Beach previously served as former Gov. Angus King’s chief legal adviser before becoming a judge in 2002.
Judge denies alleged sex offender’s request for new lawyer in decade-old case
Eric Bard, formerly of Sidney, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for allegedly sexually assaulting a 4-year-old in 2011 and 2012. The conviction was later overturned, and he now faces a new trial.
Maine AG says new DNA tests insufficient to overturn 34-year-old murder case
Attorney General Aaron Frey says the results do not shake his confidence in the state’s conviction of Dennis Dechaine in Sarah Cherry’s 1988 killing.