In Massachusetts, a Work Stoppage Forces Judges to Dismiss Criminal Cases

Seeking higher pay, lawyers for indigent defendants won’t take new clients. As a result, judges must dismiss cases against people accused of crimes who lack lawyers.

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A Lawyer Was Wrongly Charged With Bringing Drug-Laced Papers Into Rikers

The Correction Department said Bernardo Caceres’s papers tested positive for THC, a cannabinoid. Then officials tested the papers again.

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NYC Legal Aid Society Lawyers Could Soon Strike for Higher Pay

The lawyers who represent the city’s poorest defendants want to be paid on par with their federal counterparts. They last walked out in 1994.

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Founder of N.Y.C. Public Defender Office Is Charged With Fraud

Lori Zeno, who helped start the Queens Defenders, and her husband were accused of taking money from the organization for luxury vacations and a penthouse apartment.

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In Texas, Misdemeanor Defendants Routinely Face Charges Without an Attorney

In some parts of the state, misdemeanor defendants routinely face charges without representation.

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How a South Texas Court System Is Failing Poor Defendants

People in Maverick County spend months in jail waiting to be charged with minor crimes. Some are simply lost in the system.

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