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 ]
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