More than 150 criminal cases have been dismissed as Massachusetts’ attorney shortage continues

The number of criminal cases dismissed due to the continued work stoppage of the bar’s lawyers surpassed 1,500, with a new wave of dismissals this week, court data show.

On Tuesday, 155 criminal cases were dismissed in Boston Municipal Court due to a lack of representation for defendants, the state Office of the Trial Court reported.

The latest round of dismissed cases included domestic violence charges, assault, weapons charges, assault and battery, and more, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office.

In late May, the majority of attorneys—private attorneys contracted by the state to represent criminal defendants—at the district court level in Middlesex and Suffolk counties instituted a work stoppage, citing low wages and an unsustainable workload. In June, the Supreme Court established the so-called Lavallee Protocol.

Under the protocol, anyone held without representation for more than a week should be released, and any defendant without representation should have their case dismissed for 45 days. Prosecutors can refile charges, but face a huge backlog.

State lawmakers approved a wage increase in July, increasing attorney rates from $65 an hour to $75 an hour immediately and $85 the following year. Advocates for the bar, who were seeking a $100 per hour rate, said the increase wasn’t enough.

The issue of further wage increases will be brought before the Supreme Court on November 5. The court could find the current compensation rate unconstitutional and impose an increase.

Dismissal hearings were underway in BMC and district courts in Suffolk and Middlesex counties as of Wednesday, according to the court. As of Tuesday, 630 cases were dismissed in the Boston Municipal Court division and 923 cases were dismissed in district court under the Lavallee Protocol.

“The volume and severity of these cases made for an extremely difficult day for prosecutors, police and victim witness advocates,” said Suffolk DA spokesman James Borghesani. “But it was a particularly difficult day for the victims, who are now experiencing – at best – significant delays in bringing suspects to justice for committing crimes against them.”

Many more cases will also be dismissed at Roxbury BMC next Tuesday, Borghesani said.

One of the cases dismissed Tuesday involved the alleged sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl, the district attorney’s office said. Another victim came to court and described a history of domestic violence, including choking and beating by the suspect. One woman was accused of threatening her children with a firearm. A fourth case involved a suspect charged with OUI with a 17-month-old baby in the car.

“The courts cannot function under an indefinite state of emergency,” the Committee on Public Advisory Services stated in a letter filed with the SJC. “Everyone knows the only solution is to raise rates.”

In their SJC letter, the bar’s lawyers argued that “when a statutory compensation scheme results in the deprivation of a constitutional right, it is unconstitutional” and asked the court to “restore access to justice by raising rates to constitutionally adequate levels.”

Bar attorney Shira Diner said that “the situation is actually only going to get worse the longer we are in it,” noting that she watched in court Wednesday as “too many cases continue.”

“I hope the SJC takes the opportunity to fix our broken defense system for the indigent,” Diner said. “I hope that they raise the rates, and that they put in place a structure and a financing system so that this doesn’t happen again. So we’re never in the position where people turn away from the court and can’t have their case heard because they don’t have a lawyer.”

For now, both sides are stuck with “a lot of waiting” as they wait for the court to act, Diner said.

The Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance issued a statement on Wednesday about the dismissals, calling the situation the “greatest breakdown of justice in the state’s history” and urging Gov. Maura Healey and lawmakers to “focus on immediately resolving the courtroom crisis.”