SPRINGFIELD — As the state grapples with a work stoppage over pay for private attorneys who represent indigent defendants, the system that ensures representation for those in federal court is also in crisis.
The program that pays private attorneys to represent those who can’t afford a lawyer in federal court ran out of money last month and won’t be able to pay lawyers until the new federal fiscal year in October, according to a statement from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
“Not only are lawyers not getting paid, but the investigators and experts we use won’t get paid either,“ said Peter Alexander Slepchuk, a Springfield lawyer who is on the panel of private attorneys who takes the cases. “It does create a problem.”
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