Lawyer Pay
Person accused in machete attack among those with dropped charges amid defense lawyer work stoppage
The chief justice of Boston’s municipal court dismissed 39 more criminal cases amid a defense lawyer work stoppage Tuesday, including that of a person accused in a machete attack near a school. (Image from Shutterstock)
The chief justice of Boston’s municipal court dismissed 39 more criminal cases amid a defense lawyer work stoppage Tuesday, including that of a person accused in a machete attack near a school.
Judge Tracy-Lee Lyons, the chief justice of the Boston Municipal Court, dismissed the cases under a protocol established by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court after outside lawyers appointed to represent indigent defendants in the state stopped accepting new cases to protest low pay.
MassLive.com has the story on the third round of dismissals in the Boston Municipal Court. Lyons was acting under a protocol that requires the release of indigent defendants in custody for seven days without a lawyer and the dismissal of charges against defendants who don’t have legal representation for 45 days.
Prosecutors can reinstate dismissed cases with a motion to reopen.
The machete defendant, Genry Pache Baez, had already been released without bail and had not violated release terms that include having no contact with the victim, Lyons said. Baez is charged with felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and misdemeanor disorderly conduct. The alleged attack happened in a parking lot used to pick up school children.
Court-appointed lawyers want a raise from $65 per hour to $100 per hour. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has signed a bill into law that raises hourly pay $10 this year and next, for a total of $85 per hour.
The private lawyers, who are overseen by the state’s public defender agency, handle about 80% of criminal cases in Massachusetts.
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