Boston (AP) – More than 120 cases, including some to attack family and police attacks, were fired on Tuesday in Boston, the last departure from a dispute for months of pay that made public defenders stop taking new customers.
In mostly empty courtroom, the Chief Judge of the Boston Municipal Court Tracy-Lais Lyon is summoned for the Lavallee Protocol in the case for dismissing the case. This requires that they be dropped if the defendant did not have a lawyer for 45 days and was released from custody if he had not had one for seven days. Tuesday was the first time he was summoned to give up cases while suspects in custody were released in recent weeks.
Most were for minor crimes such as theft, possession of drugs and motor vehicle disorders.
But several cases of attack on police officers and domestic violence. A suspect allegedly hit his pregnant girlfriend in his stomach and hit her in the face. Another case included a woman who was allegedly attacked by the father of her child who threatened to kill her and try to strangle her. The third case included a suspect who had struck a police officer and threatened to shoot him.
The judge, repeatedly calling Lavallee’s protocol, rejected almost all cases after being convinced that public defenders had made a bona fide effort to find the defendants’ lawyer. No defendants were in court to hear that their cases were fired.
“This case will be rejected without prejudice,” Lyon said many times, noting that all fines and fees will be canceled.
Disappointment by prosecutors for dropped cases
Prosecutors unsuccessfully objected to the rejection of many cases, especially the most serious ones, which are rejected.
“Today, the rejection of the case, with many more expected in the coming days and weeks, is a clear and continuing threat to public safety,” said a statement by the District Prosecutor’s Office of the Safolk County. They vowed to reassess all cases.
“Our prosecutors and defenders of victim witnesses work extremely hard to support victims and other affected persons updated for what is happening with their deeds,” he continued. “These are difficult conversations. We hope that a structural solution will be found here to deal with the cause and effect problems and prevent repetition.”
Democratic governor Maura Heli, speaking to Fol River reporters, said the situation should be resolved.
“This is a problem with public safety, as well as a matter of proper process as people need representation,” she said. “I know the parties talk. They have to find a way to do this. We need lawyers in court … And they must be paid fairly.”
The dispute rotates around the pay
Public defenders, who claim that they are the most paid in New England, have begun stopping work at the end of May, hoping to press the legislature to increase their hourly pay. The public agency, representing public defenders, offered an increase in pay from $ 65 per hour to $ 73 an hour over the next two fiscal years for lawyers in the district court, an increase of $ 85 per hour to $ 105 per hour for lawyers in the Supreme Court, and $ 120 per hour to $ 150 per hour for the murder.
But the budget of the fiscal year in 2026 of $ 60.9 billion, signed earlier this month by Heli, did not include an increase.
“The rejection of cases today according to Lavale’s protocols is what has to be done for those persons accused of crime, but without a lawyer to avenge their rights to the Constitution,” says Shira Diner, a lecturer at the University of Boston University. “However, this is not a solution to the deep crisis of inadequate pay for lawyers. While there are sufficiently qualified attorneys in the courts to fulfill the constitutional obligation of the right to advise this crisis will only intensify.”
Public defenders pay is a national question
Massachusetts is the latest country to fight for adequate funding for its public defender system.
In New York, legal aid attorneys require better pay and work conditions. Earlier this month, Wisconsin governor Tony Evers signed a two-year state budget, which increases the payment of public defenders and district attorneys in each of the next two years. This came after the legislature in 2023 also increased the pay for dealing with increasing workloads, high turnover and low salaries.
The public defenders in the Minnesota diverted a walk in 2022, which threatened to bring the judicial system into stagnation. A year later, the legislature came out with more funding for the State Public Defense Council in order to meet what the US Bar Association recommends for manageable loading standards.
Oregon, meanwhile, has been fighting for years with a critical shortage of lawyers provided by the court for low -income defendants. As of Tuesday, nearly 3,500 defendants had no public defender, a panel from the Oregon judicial department showed. Of these, about 143 people were in custody, some for more than seven days.
Against the backdrop of the public protection crisis last month, more than $ 2 million for defense attorneys approved of more cases in the counts that are most disabled by shortages and over $ 3 million for Oregon legal schools to train and control law students to do the laws.