Maine Senate kills county DA bill in midst of rising crime Downeast
by Sarah Craighead Dedmon
First established in 1987 and unchanged in 35 years, Maine’s eight prosecutorial districts now seem certain to survive another year unaltered. Last week, the Maine Senate voted 14-16 to leave LD 272, An Act To Establish Separate Prosecutorial Districts in Downeast Maine on the table, where it will likely die.
The bill aimed to give Washington County its own district attorney by creating a new prosecutorial district and its fate remains a source of frustration for local legislators and law enforcement who say that Washington County needs more prosecutorial help now, of all times, and that its voters are unable to fairly participate in elections. Since the districts were formed in 1987, its district partner Hancock County has grown to be 75 percent larger than Washington County.
As of 2019, Hancock County had a population of 54,601, and Washington County had a population of 31,491.
“Unfortunately when it comes to voting, if we’re in a district together, Hancock is always going to have the advantage as far as voting goes,” said Rep. Will Tuell (R-E. Machias), who sponsored the bill. “Every 10 years we redistrict our house and senate seats because of population changes and shifts, and yet the district attorney districts haven’t been redistricted since the mid-1980s.”
It’s no coincidence, therefore, says Washington County Sheriff Barry Curtis, that there has never been a district attorney from Washington County.
“We need our own people [in Washington County] to prosecute all of the cases that we have. We have some serious crimes here in Washington County if it isn’t obvious by now,” said Curtis, pointing to 11 homicides since 2017 — five since November — and a growing problem with organized crime and drug trafficking.
According to recent research published by the Bangor Daily News, Hancock County had less than half the violent crime rate of Washington County in 2020, and in terms of all crimes, both violent and non-violent, had a rate of 8.1 crimes per 1,000 residents compared to Washington County’s higher crime rate of 9.3 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Of the counties’ combined DA staff of seven, four are fully dedicated to Hancock County, and one is fully dedicated to Washington County. The remaining two cover cases in both counties, and one position is vacant in Washington County.
Curtis says he is concerned.
“I blame [our growing crime problem] in part on the fact that our court system is weak, and the DA’s office is weak. Is it the fault of the DA that’s here? No,” said Curtis, referring to DA Matthew Foster, who was elected to a second four-year term in 2018. “It’s the fault of the system put into place years ago that doesn’t work, and it’s never been looked at again.”
Foster acknowledges his staff is seriously overworked. A Jan. 21 pending case report issued by the Maine Judicial Information System shows 522 pending cases in Washington County, but Foster says the real number is much higher.
“Every prosecutor in the state of Maine is handling three to four (or more) times the number of cases than would be an acceptable caseload, District 7 included,” said Foster, who estimates a reasonable caseload at 200 misdemeanor and 50 felony cases per prosecutor.
According to Foster, Chu, the dedicated Washington County Assistant DA, is currently handling 392 cases, and Toffolon is handling 973, roughly two-thirds of which are in Washington County. Foster himself is assigned to 358, split between the counties.
A surprising turn
In the first year of this biennial, LD 272 sailed through the House of Representatives. Near the close of the first session last June, it passed the house with overwhelming bipartisan support — 136 to 1, and on the same day passed the Senate “under the hammer,” meaning approval is presumed unless an objection is raised.
Because the small budget of the bill, roughly $24,000, was already included in a budgetary agreement between the caucuses, Tuell and Sen. Marianne Moore (R-Washington) expected it to fly through special appropriations, too. They were both stunned when a July 2021 vote to move it off the appropriations table failed 18 to 16.
Moore said she spoke to two Democrat senators whose support she had expected. They both informed her they were “lobbied” to prevent the bill from progressing.
Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) last July voted in favor of moving the bill off of the appropriations table, but when a second vote was called Feb. 10, he voted against it on advice from his party.
“Because I think the leadership on my side felt that it circumvented procedures,” said Baldacci last week. “If we can get the appropriations committee to report it out in the normal fashion then I will vote for it.”
Last week, Moore asked Sen. Cathy Breen (D-Cumberland), who chairs the Senate Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, what could be done to move the bill off the table, and reports Breen said, “Nothing. It’s not coming off the table.”
Moore remains puzzled by the sudden change of support in the Senate and says she sees no path forward for LD 272 in this biennial, and certainly not in time for potential Washington County DA candidates to organize themselves for a November election.
This is a matter of extreme frustration for many in county law enforcement. Curtis says he remains “passionate” about Washington County having its own district attorney.
“The people I represent are very much in favor of it, people here understand the need for it. To have this go this way is absolutely pathetic,” said Curtis.