Should defendants without court-appointed lawyers be released? Should charges be dropped? Judge weighs remedies

homesafetytechpros — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 23:28:05 +0000

Criminal Justice

Should defendants without court-appointed lawyers be released? Should charges be dropped? Judge weighs remedies

January 27, 2025, 3:06 pm CST

A Maine judge is considering how to remedy the state’s failure to provide lawyers to indigent defendants on a timely basis. (Image from Shutterstock)

A Maine judge is considering how to remedy the state’s failure to provide lawyers to indigent defendants on a timely basis.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine is urging Judge Michaela Murphy of Kennebec County, Maine, to order the Maine Commission on Public Defender Services to provide counsel from the time that a defendant is charged. Murphy should give the organization 30 days to come up with an implementation plan, the ACLU said.

Defendants without a court-appointed lawyer after seven days should be released from jail, and those without a lawyer after 45 days should have their charges dismissed until a defense lawyer is available, the ACLU argued.

The Portland Press Herald (in stories here, here and here) and Maine Public Radio have coverage.

Murphy ruled Jan. 3 that Maine is violating the Sixth Amendment rights of criminal defendants who remain unrepresented after arraignment or first appearances. The judge had a three-day hearing focusing on remedies that ended Friday.

The state is arguing that remedies for the late appointment of a lawyer could be handled on an individual basis.

When Maine adopted a full-time public defender system in 2022, it was the last state to do so. But the state still has a hybrid system in which it relies on private attorneys to handle much of the work, the Portland Press Herald explains. The state also has a “lawyer of the day” program in which temporary lawyers represent defendants for their first court appearance when a permanent lawyer can’t be found.

In testimony on remedies, Walter McKee, an experienced criminal defense lawyer, said it was important to have permanent legal representation early in the case, according to Portland Press Herald.

“These are processes that are important to be dealt with, right from Day 1,” McKee said. “Law enforcement has had a significant amount of time to investigate and follow up. They’re way ahead of the defendant. Those delays are significant, right from the start.”

The ACLU case is State of Maine v. Robbins.

Federal judge orders release of county’s unrepresented defendants, says problem is ‘complete tragedy’

Citing ‘Sixth Amendment nightmare,’ 9th Circuit allows pretrial release of defendants without lawyers

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Woman who allegedly killed new bride in DUI crash, released

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 02 Mar 2024 07:14:46 +0000

Jamie Komoroski (Charleston County Sheriff’s Office), Aric Hutchinson and Samantha Miller pictured leaving their wedding reception (via court documents)

A woman accused of driving drunk three times the legal limit and killing a new bride riding in a golf cart with her husband and two family members on a South Carolina beach road after their wedding has been released from custody after posting bail on Friday.

Jamie Lee Komoroski, 26, was charged with one count of reckless homicide resulting in death and three counts of felony DUI resulting in great bodily injury or death in the crash last April that killed Samantha Miller, 34, and injured her husband, Aric Hutchinson, and Aric’s brother-in-law and nephew.

She posted $150,000 bond and was released from jail on Friday afternoon, Charleston County jail booking records show. She will be placed on house arrest with an ankle monitor, won’t be allowed to drive and will have a device that will record her alcohol levels.

Circuit Judge Michael Nettles initially held her in custody but said in August she would be released on bond if prosecutors were ready to try her case by March, The Post and Courier reported.

Her family had argued for her release so she could get treatment for alcohol abuse, while the victim’s family urged the judge to keep her locked up, saying she was a danger to the community.

“I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through this. It’s torn apart our family,” said the victim’s mother, Lisa Miller, the newspaper reported. “You didn’t just — I’m sorry — she didn’t just kill my daughter. She killed all of us.”

Charles Komoroski, III said his daughter finds herself in “a transformational portion of her life,” considering how she could help those with alcohol addiction, the paper reported.

A weeklong celebration between a couple madly in love ended on the night of April 28, 2023, at Folly Beach. The couple got into a golf cart with two other family members filled with all the hope and promise of a beautiful life.

Komoroski was allegedly ending “a booze-filled day of bar hopping” when she rear-ended the golf cart carrying the newlyweds back to their hotel, an affidavit said. She had been driving drunk in a “nearly unconscious state” in a rented Toyota Camry at 65 mph in a 25 mph zone, court documents said.

Miller died in her wedding dress. Hutchinson and the two others riding along were hospitalized.

Police immediately launched a DUI investigation after noting Komoroski, who was not injured, smelled of alcohol. She told police she had one beer and a drink with tequila about an hour earlier, the affidavit said.

When she refused to take a field sobriety test and give a breath sample, police got a warrant to draw two vials of blood at a hospital. Tests later showed she had a blood alcohol content of .261, more than three times the legal limit for driving in South Carolina. She was booked into the Charleston County jail under suicide watch after she told an officer she wanted to kill herself.

The other three victims, who were in and out of consciousness as they lay at the crash scene that night, recovered physically.

Hutchinson recalled his new bride’s final moments in an interview on Good Morning America, as reported by Law&Crime.

“The last thing I remember her saying was she wanted the night to never end,” said Hutchinson, adding the next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital room, asking, “Where’s Sam?”

“That’s when [my mother] told me there’s an incident and that Sam didn’t make it,” he told the network.

Hutchinson filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, alleging Komoroski was “grossly and dangerously intoxicated” and also named the bars, several of which have settled in the case.

The story took a twist when, less than two weeks after Miller died, her mother threatened to contest the validity of her marriage to Hutchinson, arguing that she — not him — should be the sole beneficiary of her daughter’s estate. Miller died intestate, meaning she had no will, and, under South Carolina law, her assets passed on to Hutchinson as her surviving spouse.

Law&Crime’s Colin Kalmbacher and Matt Naham contributed to this report.

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Should defendants without court-appointed lawyers be released? Should charges be dropped? Judge weighs remedies

Should defendants without court-appointed lawyers be released? Should charges be dropped? Judge weighs remedies

Woman who allegedly killed new bride in DUI crash, released