Neil Entwistle

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by Mike P

Where are you getting those figures from? Every dime that's spent on an indigent's defense in Mass. has to be approved by a judge. One of his lawyers, Stephanie Page, is a salaried public defender who makes a whopping $80,000 a year. Maybe a little more as a "Senior Trial Counsel". His lead lawyer is getting paid at the rate of $80 an hour. I somehow doubt that he's going to sneak a $2,920,000 voucher past the judge. That's a crapload of hours at $80 per.

I highly doubt that the trial judge allowed motions for expert/investigative funds to the tune of $2 million.

regardless we still pay for it. I don't fault the individuals assigned

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by striperman36

regardless we still pay for it. I don't fault the individuals assigned

You pay a lot less than you think. You have a statewide public defender office of about 200 lawyers who handle most of the non-murder indigent cases in the Superior Court, who make between $45,000 and $80,000 a year depending on experience. Then, in the District Courts, you have a bunch of private practitioners called "bar advocates" who earn $50 an hour defending most of the indigent cases in the lower court. Up until about 2 years ago, they made $30 an hour. Massachusetts is among the lowest paying states in the country when it comes to compensating court appointed lawyers. Many states compensate private lawyers at the rate of $75 an hour, and in California, a senior public defender makes about double what they pay here in Mass. Private lawyers defending murder cases as court-appointed counsel commonly make $125 to $150 an hour in other states as opposed to $80 an hour here.

We can argue about whether Entwhistle is really indigent and whether we should foot the bill for his defense, but trust me--his lead lawyer is not getting rich off this case.