Charges dropped against more than 120 defendants in Massachusetts because they can’t get attorney

BOSTON AP More than cases including specific for assault on family members and police were dismissed Tuesday in Boston the latest fallout from a monthslong dispute over pay that has led general defenders to stop taking new clients At a mostly empty courtroom Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Tracy-Lee Lyons invoked the Lavallee protocol in dismissing matter after scenario It requires cases be dropped if a defendant hasn t had an attorney for days and issued from custody if they haven t had one for seven days Tuesday was the first time it was invoked to drop cases while persons in custody have been issued in modern weeks The bulk were for minor crimes like shoplifting drug possession and motor wagon violations But several involved cases of assault on police officers and domestic violence One suspect allegedly punched his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach and slapped her in the face Another development involved a woman who was allegedly assaulted by the father of her child who threatened to kill her and tried to strangle her A third event involved a suspect who allegedly hit a police officer and threated to shoot him The judge repeatedly invoking the Lavallee protocol dismissed almost all of the cases after being convinced community defenders had made a good-faith effort to find the defendants an attorney No defendants were in court to hear their cases being dismissed This affair will be dismissed without prejudice Lyons noted repeatedly noting that all fines and fees would be waived Frustration from prosecutors over dropped cases Prosecutors unsuccessfully objected to the dismissal of multiple of the cases especially the preponderance serious being dismissed The event dismissals currently with plenty of more expected in coming days and weeks present a clear and continuing threat to community safety James Borghesani a spokesperson for the Suffolk County district attorney s office commented in a announcement They vowed to re-prosecute all the cases Our prosecutors and victim witness advocates are working extremely hard to keep casualties and other impacted persons updated on what s happening with their cases he continued These are complex conversations We remain hopeful that a structural cure will be ascertained to address the causal issues here and prevent any repeat The district attorney s office plans to re-prosecute all of the dismissed cases Democratic Gov Maura Healey speaking to reporters in Fall River disclosed the situation needed to be resolved This is a citizens safety issue and also a due process issue as people need representation she declared I know the parties are talking They have got to find a way to work this out We need lawyers in court and certainly they need to be paid fairly Dispute revolves around pay Population defenders who argue they are the lowest paid in New England launched a work stoppage at the end of May in hopes of pressuring the legislature to increase their hourly pay The state agency representing general defenders had proposed a pay increase from an hour to an hour over the next two fiscal years for lawyers in district court an increase from an hour to an hour for lawyers in Superior Court and an hour to an hour for lawyers handling murder cases But the fiscal year budget of billion signed early this month by Healey didn t include any increase The dismissal of cases in the modern day under the Lavallee protocols is what requirements to be done for those individuals charged with crimes but with no lawyer to vindicate their constitution rights commented Shira Diner a lecturer at the Boston University School of Law and the immediate past president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers It is however not a answer to the deep emergency of inadequate pay for bar advocates Until there are enough qualified lawyers in courts to fulfill the constitutional obligation of the right to counsel this situation will only intensify The pay of residents defenders is a national issue Massachusetts is the latest state struggling to adequately fund its residents defender system In Wisconsin a two-year state budget signed into law last week by Democratic Gov Tony Evers would increase the pay of citizens defenders and district attorneys in each of the next two years That comes after the Legislature in also increased the pay to address rising caseloads high turnover and low salaries Community defenders in Minnesota averted a walkout in that threatened to bring the court system to a standstill A year later the legislature came up with more funding for the state Board of Community Defense so it could meet what the American Bar Association recommends for manageable caseload standards Oregon meanwhile has struggled for years with a critical shortage of court-provided attorneys for low-income defendants As of Tuesday nearly defendants did not have a population defender a dashboard from the Oregon Judicial Department established Of those about people were in custody various for longer than seven days Amid the state s citizens defense problem lawmakers last month approved over million for defense attorneys to take more caseloads in the counties largest part affected by the shortage and over million for Oregon law schools to train and supervise law students to take on misdemeanor cases Source