Overview

• Chief Justice Tracy-Lee Lyons has presided over daily emergency hearings in Boston since July 7 to release defendants held more than seven days without lawyers.
• The Supreme Judicial Court’s Lavallee protocol, enacted after a CPCS petition, requires freeing unrepresented defendants after seven days and dismissing charges after 45 days.
• More than 1,100 defendants in Middlesex and Suffolk district courts currently lack counsel, highlighting widespread shortages among private bar advocates and CPCS staff.
• Governor Maura Healey’s fiscal 2026 budget omitted any pay increase for public defenders and no supplemental funding proposal has been introduced.
• Republican lawmakers have labeled the impasse a constitutional crisis and are urging swift action to end the representation gap.