PORTLAND — Maine’s highest court says it will no longer consider a proposal asking to increase from 48 to 72 hours the maximum amount of time somebody can be held in jail before appearing before a judge.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court said Wednesday it has withdrawn the proposal from consideration and canceled a public hearing on it.
The proposed change to Maine’s rules of criminal procedure was made by a committee of prosecutors and defense lawyers after hearing concerns raised by a sheriff who said he’s had to release arrestees simply because judge wasn’t available in the 48-hour time frame.
But criminal defense lawyers said initial court appearances should be made sooner than 48 hours, not later. Others said 72 hours appeared to be excessive and possibly unconstitutional.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.