Criminal defense attorney’s Mark Haddad certainly has a fan in Judge Peter J. Maceroni.

When Haddad on Wednesday asked for a significant increase in his payment for public defense of murder defendant Terry Borgia, the longtime judge didn’t hesitate to approve the request and added the comment:

“Based on what you went through, if anyone feels the court appointed counsel was not competent, they are crazy.”

Haddad’s request went from $19,335 to $28,664, saying he under-estimated his fee paid by taxpayers. That might sound like a lot of money to many people, and it is. But a retained attorney would have charged multiple times that amount. Haddad, who had some help from young attorney Madana Hermiz, estimates he spent 450 to 500 hours on the case. He represented her through three full trials, one partial trial, a plea that was withdrawn, and many other court hearings.

Attorneys may be overpaid sometimes, but not in this case.

By the way, Stephen Rabaut, who had co-counsel in Gail Pamukov, was paid about $42,000 for the Stephen Grant case.