The exterior of Deschutes Defenders office at 215 NW Greenwood Ave., in Bend, Ore., on Sept. 2, 2024. This week, Oregon's state court administrator warns of the statewide shortage of public defenders that has left many defendants without legal representation.
Winston Szeto / OPB
The number of people who have been accused of a crime and are without an attorney — a constitutional right — has reached an all-time high in Oregon.
In the last month alone, the number of unrepresented individuals increased by 11%, Nancy Cozine, the state’s top court administrator, told state lawmakers this week.
Oregon’s shortage of public defenders has been a high-profile problem for several years. But the latest numbers illustrate the disheartening reality that even after lawmakers funneled more than $90 million more into the system in 2023 and dedicated brain power to fixing the problem. It’s not been enough.
As of the end of January, there were 4,178 individuals who didn’t have an attorney statewide. The highest number of individuals in this situation are in Multnomah (1,172), Marion (756), Jackson (754), Washington (628), Douglas (253) and Coos counties (99).
Another eyebrow-raising statistic: 731 people who have been without representation for more than six months. Most of the people are currently not incarcerated; 191 are in custody.
The bulk of the charges are driving under the influence of intoxication, which is nearly 17% of the cases. For out-of-custody felony cases, the average wait time to get an attorney has increased to an average of 110 days.
Related: Oregon lawmakers consider bill to overhaul public defense system
Amanda Dalton, a lobbyist with the Oregon District Attorneys Association, told lawmakers this week, it’s not just misdemeanor crimes that are going unchecked. There are worse crimes where people are being let out of custody because there are no attorneys. Like a case in Douglas County, where a person is being accused of raping a minor and spent 22 months without counsel. The person was released because no attorney was present.
The problems in the system were identified years ago. In 2018, a report found that Oregon’s system of state public defense is so bureaucratic and structurally flawed it couldn’t guarantee clients were getting the legal defense they are owed — a requirement of the U.S. Constitution. The constitution requires a defendant who cannot afford to hire their own attorney to be provided counsel at public expense.
In 2023, lawmakers made substantive changes to the system; although even then there were calls from public defenders that they didn’t go far enough. The public defense commission, the independent body that is appointed by the chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court, said they are in the midst of trying to fix a complicated system that has been broken for years and it’s a long process. The commission hired a new leader in late 2022, after the head of the commission was ousted.
Related: The head of Oregon’s public defense system is fired, after months of tumult
Most recently, there has been some high-profile disagreements over how to frame the crisis. During an interview with OPB last month, Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez offered a sharp critique of many of the county’s public defenders.
“I call it the work stoppage,” said Vasquez, who took office last month.. “I hear it referred to as a defense attorney crisis. I don’t accept that. I don’t agree with that terminology. I see it much differently.”
Following the comments, many public defenders have expressed concern and anger over Vasquez’s remarks.
Stacey Reding, executive director of Multnomah Defenders Inc., said “calling it a work stoppage is insulting.”
Reding said she’s had high turnover in her office. New attorneys often have less experience, she said, and can’t take as many cases as the lawyers they’re replacing.
“Our district attorney’s office could take actions that would help with the public defense crisis,” Reding said. “In Multnomah County, our attorneys prepare a lot of cases for trial that turn into dismissals on the eve of trial. If our district attorney’s office could identify those cases that are dismissals much earlier in the process and dismiss them, that would save many hours of defense attorney time that we could then turn around and focus on taking new cases.”
Correction: A previous version incorrectly stated Stacey Reding’s employer. She is the executive director of the Multnomah Defenders Inc. OPB regrets the error.
