JFA Team and the TTA Client will work to 1) identify promising practices to increase the recruitment and retention of public defense providers in the state’s rural communities; 2) identify the best practices for billing and compensation of court appointed and contract counsel; 3) identify best practices for providing meaningful oversight and evaluation of court appointed and contract counsel.
Update (July-December 2022):Over the past 6 months members of the grant team have regularly attended Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services (MCILS) virtual meetings, as well as observing two virtual town-hall events designed to identify some of the concerns of the local criminal defense bar. Noting the significant challenges in the recruitment and retention of lawyers facing rural communities in Maine, work this reporting period focused on meetings with rural defense lawyers, law students and alumni of Maine Law School’s Rural Fellowship program, and faculty and leaders of Maine Law.
(January-June 2022): Over the past 6 months we have attended monthly meetings, continued to attend commission meetings, made a site visit and interviewed legal system stakeholders in several key jurisdictions that were identified as most in need of assistance.
(July - December 2022): Continued to attend monthly meetings and commission meetings. Scheduled a training for March and October of 2023. Agenda and program information can be found here: https://strengthenthesixth.org/focus/Strengthening-the-Sixth-in-Maine.
January-June 2023: Continued to hold monthly meetings, developed and completed agenda and secured speakers for the March training. March training was held March 30-31.
The final Agenda is below:
AGENDA
Time
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Location: Penobscot Judicial Center
8:30 – 8:45 am
Welcome and Opening Remarks
8:45 – 10:30 am
Client Interviewing Lecture and Scenarios (Deja Vishny)
10:30 -10:45 am
BREAK (on your own)
10:45–12:00 pm
Investigation Lecture and Scenarios (Bonnie Hoffman)
12:00–1:00 pm
LUNCH (sponsored by MCILS)
1:00–1:45 pm
4th Amendment Motions to Suppress (Bridget Krause)
1:45–2:45 pm
Small Group Interactive Session: Issue Spotting and Development (including investigations and motions practice)
2:45 – 3:00 pm
BREAK (on your own)
3:00 – 4:00 pm
Examination and Impeachment (Jen Sellitti)
Time
Friday, March 31, 2023
Location: Penobscot Judicial Center
8:30 – 9:30 am
Objections and Evidence (Bridget Krause)
9:30 – 10:30 am
Ethics: Interactive Ethics Scenarios for Public Defense (Bonnie Hoffman)
10:30 -10:45 am
BREAK (on your own)
10:45–12:00 pm
Small Group Interactive Session: Objections Exercises
12:00–12:45 pm
LUNCH (sponsored by MCILS)
12:45–1:30 pm
Preparing for Trial (Deja Vishny)
1:30–3:00 pm
Small Group Interactive Session: Crossing the Cop
3:00 – 3:15 pm
BREAK (on your own)
3:15 – 4:00 pm
Storytelling and Sentencing (Jen Sellitti)
January - June 2023: Planning for the 2-day October training is ongoing. It will be open to all MCILS attorneys and a portion of the training will be lead by the 4th Amendment Center.
July-December 2023: Attended a two day conference in Portland ME October 26 & 27. Unfortunately, due to an active shooter emergency which developed the night before the conference, the CLE had to be held virtually.
July-Dec. 2024: We have been requested by MCILS to also provide recommendations on providing supervision and oversight to their court appointed counsel. We have drafted a set of recommendations that are being reviewed by MCILS and will be submitted to BJA for approval this spring.
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Hosted a kick-off meeting with attendance from: Ellie Maciag, Deputy Executive Director, Justin Andrus, Interim Executive Director, Josh Tardy, Chair, Lucia Nixon, OPEGA, Anne Jordan, Manager of Criminal Process and Specialty Dockets at the Maine Judicial Branch, Sheriff Troy Martin, MACDL, Tina Nadaeu, Executive Director, Amber Tucker, President Elect
Met with Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer leadership to discuss issues within the criminal defense community in Maine.
Wrote a 14 question survey on criminal defense practices in Maine. After receiving approval from Justin Andrus and the Board of Overseers of the Bar in Maine, we plan on distributing the survey in August 2021.
Met with Justin and Ellie to discuss post-MOU next steps.
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