Maine's federal public defender warns of crisis in system for indigent defendants

In this Wednesday, May 31, 2017 court-appointed "lawyer of the day" Merritt Hemingway defends a person charged with a crime at Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland, Maine.

Maine's federal defender and court-appointed attorneys are sounding the alarm about a dire funding shortfall that they say could mean delayed trials for indigent clients.

Nearly 60 private attorneys in Maine stopped getting paid to represent low-income clients in federal criminal cases on July 3.

Read the full article in Maine Public.