By Lee Burnett
State Rep. Lucas Lanigan still doesn’t have a lawyer two and a half months after a Maine District Court Judge authorized appointment of an attorney at taxpayer expense to defend him against an aggravated assault charge.
Lanigan, whose district includes parts of Springvale and Sanford, said he plans to contest his continuing legal jeopardy on the grounds that a lawyer should have been appointed by now. But he expects a judge will order another continuance in the case, scheduled to be heard in Biddeford District Court on Tuesday.
“It’s been over 90 days,” Lanigan said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “I have a right to a speedy trial.”
Lanigan is accused of trying to strangle his wife on Oct. 25, 2024, after she showed up at Springvale Safe Storage where he worked to confront him about a suspected affair. He represented himself during earlier court hearings, contrary to a judge’s recommendation, but asked for a court-appointed attorney in August.
Lanigan said he understands there is a shortage of lawyers willing to take court-appointed cases, but he’s still perplexed.
“I don’t know why – probably there’s no one who handles this type of case,” he said. “I haven’t been able to get anywhere.”
Maine Commission on Public Defense Services, which determines financial eligibility for court-appointed attorneys, declined to comment on Lanigan’s situation, but at the request of the Sanford Springvale News conducted a review of the wait time. The average length of wait in the year to date in York County cases has been 13 days, according to Frayla Tarpinian, executive director of the commission.
Lanigan’s wait for a lawyer comes as the Maine Supreme Court is set to decide on a long-running legal challenge over Maine’s failure to provide lawyers to criminal defendants who can’t afford them.
In September, the commission reported that more than 400 defendants were still waiting for attorneys, according to Maine Morning Star. At the same time, the public defense system is stretched thin and facing a $13 million shortfall, which means it will soon be unable to compensate contracted criminal defense attorneys, according to the Maine Morning Star.
Earlier this year, Superior Court Judge Michaela Murphy ruled that the state was failing to meet its constitutional obligations to provide attorneys to indigent criminal defendants. Further, she decided to hold individual hearings on defendants held in jail, and if an attorney wasn’t found in 14 days, they would be released from jail. If an attorney wasn’t found in 60 days, she said, the charges would be dismissed.
Both the Maine Attorney General’s office and the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services filed appeals on the grounds that the judge had overstepped her authority. But the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, which had filed suit against the state in 2022, defended the ruling.
“The State’s answer—sit tight, continue with the status quo, and maybe things will work themselves out—makes a mockery of the Sixth Amendment’s promise of a fair justice system,” according to the brief filed by ACLU.
Lanigan has filed motions to suppress evidence and dismiss charges on the grounds that his wife has recanted earlier statements about their confrontation, which occurred just days before voters were to decide whether to give Lanigan a second term in the state House. The race went to a recount, which Lanigan won by one vote.
“I’m trying to go with the flow,” he said. “It’s been over a year. No motions are being heard.”
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