Few public defenders, rise in criminal charges strains Cowlitz County municipal courts

For public defenders in Cowlitz County’s municipal courts, the last year has been busy.

So busy, the defense attorneys who represent people facing charges like driving under the influence and misdemeanor assault may soon be unable to take on more cases. The caseloads threaten to slam the brakes on the courts entirely.

Officials tell OPB that the courts are facing an emergency. Some worry that without more attorneys in the area willing to work those cases, some cases will have to be simply dismissed.

“If you don’t have a public defender, you’re going to be dismissing cases,” said Kris Swanson, city manager of Longview. Swanson has been trying to recruit more lawyers to pick up cases before the public defenders hit their state-mandated legal case limit.

“I’m treating it like a crisis,” Swanson added.

Unlike public defenders in Oregon, where there is no set limit on how many cases they can undertake, lawyers in Washington can’t take on more than 400 cases annually.

Related: Oregon governor roils public defense overhaul with last-minute legislative changes

A single law firm handles all of the municipal public defense for five Cowlitz County cities: Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock, Kalama and Woodland. That firm, Grimm Law Group, said it is almost at its max with more than two months left in the year.

“Nobody has come up with a solution,” said owner and lead attorney Mayrie Grimm.

According to Grimm, the problem is a perfect storm: Criminal charges are rising, but the number of lawyers isn’t.

Municipal courts mainly handle misdemeanor cases – everything from driving under the influence to minor assaults and public drug use.

Officials said much of the bump in criminal charges can be traced to drugs. In July, Washington lawmakers effectively re-criminalized drug possession. That followed the state Supreme Court’s “Blake” ruling in 2021, which found some of the state’s prior drug laws unconstitutional.

With new laws on the books, Longview’s seen the number of drug charges have jumped. Since July, the city has filed nearly 80 criminal charges related to possession or public use, Swanson said.

Longview, too, has been more aggressive this year about prosecuting crimes related to homelessness. The city had zero charges for unlawful camping or shopping cart use in the first six months of last year, but this year had nearly 90.

“A year ago, we had none of these charges,” said Cowlitz County District Court Judge John Hays. “Now we’re inundated.”

Attorneys aren’t seeing any reinforcements to handle the more aggressive prosecutions.

A nationwide shortage of attorneys has made it a difficult market for Cowlitz County law firms. Fewer attorneys are coming to the area, they told OPB.

The shortage is so pronounced that Grimm and Swanson each have to rely on an attorney working in another time zone. One public defender is filing their documents from Illinois, and a city prosecutor is chiming in from Florida.

Some firms have had to poach talent from their peers. Grimm said she recently lost two of her six attorneys. Being a government contractor doesn’t pay as well, she said. One former staffer moved to a neighboring firm for a $30,000 raise.

“If I post and they post on [the job search website] Indeed, people are going to look at me and go ‘Get for real. I’m not coming there for that,’” Grimm said.

Swanson, who has to hire prosecutors, said she is seeing it, too.

Still, the two are working together to find solutions that would avoid case dismissals cases later in the year. Solutions could include paying higher wages for the defenders or simply contracting other firms as a stopgap.

Swanson said finding qualified attorneys locally has been difficult. She has started calling firms outside of the county.

Hays, the Cowlitz County judge, said he and his peers have one option if public defenders do hit their limits. They can start assigning cases to other qualified local attorneys – in effect, conscripting them into service. But there aren’t many who qualify.

“The list is very short,” he said. When asked how many lawyers were available, he said “four or five.”