by Douglas Rooks | April 18, 2021
If you’re sentenced to a long prison term in Maine, your chances of being released early are almost nil. In 1976, Maine became the first state to abolish parole entirely, also doing away with the Executive Council, which once shared authority for pardons with the...
by Jordan Andrews | August 23, 2020
More than a decade after Foster Bates was convicted of the 1994 rape and murder of Tammy Dickson of South Portland, two new witnesses came forward with information that could exonerate him. One said another man confessed on the night of the murder, and the other that...
by Susan Cover | August 23, 2020
For 27 years, Tony Pushard was in and out of a county jail or the state prison. His lengthy rap sheet includes convictions for disorderly conduct, assault, drug trafficking, burglary, theft, failing to appear in court and violating conditions of release. The Augusta...
by Susan Cover | August 23, 2020
The fates of more than 50 bills aiming to change Maine’s criminal justice system are uncertain now that legislative leaders cannot agree on the timing or scope of a special session. As each side blames the other — Democrats say Republicans pushed them for weeks to...
by Susan Cover | March 26, 2020
Editor’s update (Jan. 10, 2021): Rep. Charlotte Warren (D-Hallowell) has resubmitted An Act to Reclassify Certain Offenses under the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Laws and Motor Vehicle Laws and Increase the Efficiency of the Criminal Justice System for...
