Higher Pay for Public Defenders? Part - 1

Bradley Jay fills in for Dan Rea. Does Massachusetts’ highest court have the authority to raise the salary of public defenders? That’s the question that is being argued in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Beginning in May, many court-appointed lawyers stopped taking new cases to try to force state lawmakers to raise their starting salaries of $65 an hour. There is concern over the number of criminal cases dismissed due to a lack of representation. Michael Coyne, the Dean of the MA School of Law joined Bradley to discuss.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.