A version of this story first appeared in the Morning Update newsletter. Sign up here to receive the Morning Update and other BDN newsletters directly in your inbox.
Happy Wednesday!
Despite the recent warmup, the signs of winter are becoming more undeniable. On Tuesday, 0.3 inches of snow fell in Caribou, two weeks earlier than the average for a measurable snowfall and the earliest since 2000, according to the National Weather Service.
All trails up Katahdin and the Traveler Ridge are closed in Baxter State Park for the season.
Another storm system is brewing that could bring winds exceeding 40 mph and possibly more snow up north Friday night into Saturday.
But today the highs will range from the low 60s to mid-40s from south to north, with morning showers across eastern and northern Maine.
If you happen to live where the temperatures are still reaching into the 60s, enjoy that while you can.
Maine’s highest court is leaving people in limbo as they wait years for decisions
Zachary Borg was halfway through his two-year felony assault sentence when he was granted bail for his pending appeal. Three years later, he’s out of prison but still waiting on a decision from the state’s highest court.
Living with the potential for another year behind bars is tenuous enough that even the DA who prosecuted his case feels bad for him.
Derric McLain faced the same situation but from prison. He spent four years locked up before his drug conviction was vacated by the high court. Three of those years were waiting for the court to decide his case.
Such delays by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court are widespread, in part because the state doesn’t have an intermediate appeals court, leaving the highest court to fill that role.
Ironically, one of the cases in limbo concerns whether Mainers’ Sixth Amendment rights to a fair and speedy trial were violated because the state’s court system is backed up.
Massachusetts resolved a similar case in two and a half months. Maine heard oral arguments in an expedited appeal more than a year ago and has yet to render a decision.
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From the Opinion Page
“Throughout his career, I have seen Matt listen carefully to what the people of Maine go through and then move.”