Maine Supreme Court Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill said the state is making progress in assigning lawyers to represent criminal defendants who cannot afford them.
In her annual State of the Judiciary address Thursday, Stanfill said there are about 285 pending cases in state courts without appointed counsel. That’s down from more than 1,000 at this time last year.
“So while the total number of cases lacking counsel is significantly reduced, it’s still unacceptably high,” she said. “There shouldn’t be any, this shouldn’t be a statistic that we’re tracking at all.”
Stanfill said the judiciary is working through a backlog of cases that grew during the pandemic. She said the criminal caseload is still up 25-30% from pre-pandemic levels.
Maine’s judicial branch is also taking steps to modernize court houses across the state, Stanfill said.
She updated lawmakers on expansion projects in Lewiston and Skowhegan, and plans to construct a new courthouse in Ellsworth.
Stanfill said historic buildings and court rooms are being preserved whenever possible.
“However, the reality is that most of the county facilities across the state are aging and aging and aging, and simply cannot support more modern and safe court operations,” she said.
Stanfill said she hopes the transition to a new electronic records system will be in place for all trial courts in the state by next year.
She said the courts have also implemented an electronic payment site and are texting hearing reminders to criminal defendants.