Public Defender Pay Dispute Goes Back To Court

• Court Appointed Defense Attorneys Getting Ripped Off

 Lawyers appointed to poor clients in the Bay State are turning cases down, claiming the state doesn't pay them enough. The Supreme Judicial Court Justice Francis Spina called a hearing Monday to determine if the Hampden County Bar Advocates did everything possible to get attorneys to represent indigent defendants. Anthony Bonavita, the head of the Hampden County Bar Advocate, said it is not likely that any more poor defendants in Springfield will go without a lawyer because the Supreme Judicial Court essentially ordered lawyers to take court-appointed cases whether they want to or not. Bonavita underwent questioning by Justice Francis Spina about why bar advocates, or private attorneys who volunteered to represent indigent defendants, were refusing to take cases in Hampden County. Bonavita said the problem came down to one word: compensation.  [more ]