The highest court in Massachusetts will consider an emergency motion Monday from lawyers who represent indigent defendants.
Those who can't afford a lawyer are supposed to be represented by a public defender or a private attorney who's agreed to take such cases.
But recently, a Springfield judge ordered two defendants released from jail because they had not been provided a lawyer.
The judge also ordered the state's public defender's office to provide attorneys in court every day.
That office, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, is appealing the decision to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, saying its attorneys are already overburdened.
Rebecca Jacobstein filed the appeal.
“In the past year, it appears that about 40 attorneys who used to be on our list of attorneys taking cases have dropped off, so we are down 40 attorneys,” she said. “We have increased staff capacity, but it hasn’t been able to keep up with the reduction in private counsel capacity.”
Jacosbstein said the hourly rates private attorneys are paid to represent indigent defendants are part of the reason there aren't enough of them.