More than 150 criminal cases dismissed as Massachusetts bar advocate shortage drags on

The number of criminal incident dismissed amid the ongoing bar advocate work stoppage surpassed with another surge of dismissals this week according to trial court records On Tuesday criminal cases were dismissed in Boston Municipal Court due to a lack of representation for defendants the state Executive Office of the Trial Court disclosed The latest round of dismissed cases included charges of domestic violence sexual assault gun charges assault and battery and more the Suffolk DA s office detailed In late May the majority of bar advocates private attorneys contracted by the state to represent criminal defendants at the district court level in Middlesex and Suffolk counties instituted a work stoppage citing low pay and unsustainable work loads In June the Supreme Judicial Court instituted what is known as the Lavallee Protocol Under the protocol anyone held for longer than a week without representation is to be published from detention and any defendant without representation for days is to have their development dismissed Prosecutors can refile charges but face a huge backlog in doing so State legislators passed a pay increase in July raising the lawyers rates from an hour to an hour straightaway and the following year Bar advocates who were seeking a an hour rate mentioned the increase was not enough The issue of further pay increases is set to come before the Supreme Judicial Court on Nov The court could find the current rate of compensation unconstitutional and mandate an increase Dismissal hearings were ongoing as of Wednesday in BMC and district courts in both Suffolk and Middlesex counties according to the trial court office As of Tuesday cases were dismissed in the Boston Municipal Court department and cases were dismissed in the district court department under the Lavallee protocol The volume and severity of these cases made for an extremely tough day for prosecutors police and victim witness advocates commented Suffolk DA spokesperson James Borghesani But it was an especially hard day for sufferers who are now facing at best considerable delays in seeing defendants brought to justice for committing crimes against them Multiple more cases are set to be dismissed in Roxbury BMC next Tuesday as well Borghesani noted One of the cases dismissed Tuesday involved the alleged sexual assault of a -year-old girl the DA s office announced Another victim came to court recounting a history of domestic abuse including choking and slapping by the defendant One woman was accused of threatening her kids with a firearm A fourth affair involved a defendant charged with OUI with a -month-old baby in the car The trial courts cannot function under an indefinite state of urgency the Committee for General Counsel Services stated in a brief filed with the SJC Everybody knows that the only key is to raise the rates In their SJC brief the bar advocates argued when a statutory compensation scheme leads to the deprivation of a constitutional right it is unconstitutional and urged the court to restore access to justice by raising the rates to constitutionally adequate levels Bar advocate attorney Shira Diner mentioned the situation is really only getting worse the longer we re in it noting she was in court watching too numerous cases get continued Wednesday I m hoping that the SJC takes the opportunity to fix our our broken indigent defense system disclosed Diner I hope they do raise the rates and they set up a structure and a system for funding so this doesn t happen again So we re never in this position of having people turned away from court and not being able to have their incident heard because they don t have a lawyer For now both sides are stuck with a lot of waiting as they wait for the court to act Diner stated The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance issued a comment on the dismissals Wednesday calling the situation the largest collapse of justice in state history and urging Gov Maura Healey and legislators to focus on resolving the courtroom dilemma right now Related Articles Boston Police Department sued for alleged frame job in murder of Roxbury bar owner With Supreme Court ruling still pending judge says she ll agree to extend block on Guard in Chicago Sheriff s deputy got mad and fatally shot Sonya Massey without justification prosecutor says Man pardoned after storming Capitol is charged with threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries Editorial Boston is a very safe city for shoplifters If the governor truly believes in accountability she should start by fixing the system she s in charge of stated Paul Diego Craney Mass Fiscal executive director Every day this continues casualties lose faith and citizens safety erodes further The governor s office did not return a request for comment as of Wednesday evening The SJC is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the Committee for Community Counsel Services v Middlesex and Suffolk County District Courts on Nov