Maine’s public defense agency puts out an urgent call for help after the loss of another public defender.
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Posted inLocal & State, News, Politics
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.
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Posted inKennebec Journal, Local & State, Maine Crime, News
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.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime, News
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.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime, News
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.
Posted inLocal & State
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.
Posted inKennebec Journal, Local & State, Maine Crime, News
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.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime
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.
Posted inLocal & State, Maine Crime
DNA testing excludes Dennis Dechaine from some key crime scene evidence
A lawyer for Dechaine, who was convicted of murdering 12-year-old Sarah Cherry 34 years ago, says he will ask for a new trial based on state-of-the-art DNA tests.
Posted inKennebec Journal, Local & State, Maine Crime, News
Jury finds Randolph man not guilty of sexually assaulting child
Nathaniel R. Dillon, 31, acquitted on all four counts of gross sexual assault for incidents alleged by a girl who was 10 and 11 years old at the time.