263 | What Changes are Coming to Fix Maine's Public Defense Crisis? w/Jim Billings

 Today, Hunter is joined by Jim Billings, the Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services. At the very start of the show, Hunter spoke with then Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, Justin Andrus, to discuss the problems facing Maine Public Defense. As a reminder, Maine was the only state that relied 100% on contract lawyers and no full time public defense offices. Since then, the crisis has only worsened. There are hundreds of people currently without counsel, and while the long term outlook looks promising, the short to medium term outlook face serious problems.     Guests: Jim Billings, Executive Director, Maine Commission on Public Defense Services     Resources: Maine Unrepresented Crisis https://www.aclumaine.org/en/mainesgrowingcrisis Man released after bail lowered due to lack of Public Defenders https://www.necn.com/news/local/shortage-of-public-defenders-in-maine-allowed-release-of-man-who-caused-fiery-standoff/3261950/     Contact Hunter Parnell:                                 [email protected]  Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                                                 @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com  Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast  Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN