A Maine police union blamed a judge for reducing bail for a man who days later broke into an Auburn home and shot at police, but the state’s judicial branch said his constitutional rights were being violated.
Police said Leein Hinkley, 43, tried to break into a woman’s home around 1 a.m. Saturday on Russell Avenue in Auburn. The woman escaped, but shots could be heard in the background of her 911 call. The home was on fire when police arrived, and a yet-to-be-identified body was later found in the rubble.
Hinkley, who had been released on bail days earlier on a probation violation, shot at police who responded and fled to a garage and then another neighboring home. Two members of the Maine State Police tactical team fatally shot Hinkley around 5:30 a.m.
A second home on the street also burned down. The cause of the fires are unknown at this time.
The Maine Fraternal Order of Police and Maine State Troopers Foundation issued a statement blaming Androscoggin County Judge Sarah Churchill for Hinkley being released from jail, according to CBS 13. Hinkley had been released Wednesday after paying a reduced $1,500 bail. Requests by the Bangor Daily News for the statement were not returned.
In part, the statement said Churchill’s decision to reduce Hinkley’s bail because his constitutional rights were being violated was “poor judgment” with “blatant disregard” for the safety of a domestic violence victim, according to CBS 13.
“We demand better judgment in our courts and accountability for Judge Sarah Churchill’s incompetent actions,” the statement said.
The Maine Judicial Branch said in a response that the events in Auburn are tragic, but it is short-sighted and dangerous to blame the court. Hinkley was released from jail because his constitutional rights were being violated since the state couldn’t appoint him an attorney, the statement said.
“The constitutional rights of the accused are not a matter of convenience,” the statement said. “Those rights are in place to protect the accused and to ensure a fair system of justice.”
The back and forth between the police union and the judiciary is the latest development in the indigent defense crisis facing the state. The Constitution guarantees that defendants have a right to legal representation, but Maine has a significant and growing backlog of cases without court-appointed lawyers for those who can’t afford one. As of last week, there were more than 1,000 cases across the state with unrepresented defendants.
Because of the lack of lawyers for poor defendants, last week the same judge who reduced Hinkley’s bail dismissed two misdemeanor charges against a man after he spent 105 days without a lawyer, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Maine Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Valerie Stanfill said in the statement that the lack of indigent defense lawyers is a constitutional crisis. Judges are forced to make difficult decisions about a defendant’s constitutional rights and the public when setting bail during the lawyer shortage, Stanfill said.
“If one or more of the parts is inadequately funded, or missing altogether, the system will break down,” Stanfill said. “This is a systemic problem and one that all partners in the criminal justice system must work together to resolve rather than criticizing each other without offering a solution.”
Hinkley appeared in court on May 31, June 7 and June 12. A judge found his rights were violated during the June 7 hearing. Hinkley’s bail was reduced, with significant conditions, during the June 12 hearing, to remedy the violations of his constitutional rights, the statement said.
A person cannot be held in jail for an unknown length of time without legal representation, the statement said. It is contrary to the state and federal constitutions.
“Unless and until we have enough defense attorneys available to represent accused people, our system will continue to malfunction,” the statement said.
Constitutional rights are the “bedrock of our society and provide protection to all of us,” said Jim Billings, executive director of Maine Public Defense Services in an email to the Maine Fraternal Order of Police. Police officers are supposed to uphold those rights, he said.
The union’s statement called for people to hold the judge “accountable,” which, in age and political climate, can be interpreted as a call for violence or extra-judicial action, Billings said.
“Making these types of comments is irresponsible and shows a deep disrespect for the rule of law,” he said.
