Deschutes County Grapples with Public Defender Shortage

In 2022, the Source Weekly reported a statewide shortage of public defenders, burdening the criminal justice system and resulting in consequences for both defendants and victims. At that time, local officials reported that the issue in Deschutes County was not yet acute. But in 2024, Deschutes County is now facing these problems, leaving many in the industry unsure of what to expect moving forward.

In the last few weeks, the local court system has been struggling to find public defenders to represent individuals. According to District Attorney Steve Gunnels, the public defender shortage has recently worsened as a result of a loss of personnel, as well as an increase in high-level felony cases in the last few months.

“That combination, along with the metrics that the public defense uses to decide whether an attorney can be apportioned, resulted in the shortfall that we had a couple of weeks ago,” said Gunnels.

According to Joel Wirtz, the executive director of Deschutes Defenders, a local public defense nonprofit, five local attorneys have recently left public defense, causing a major strain on the system and the attorneys left in the area. “The struggle now is getting people to replace them,” said Wirtz.

With fewer attorneys, individuals without representation may be released, which could eventually lead to a dismissal of charges. “Our local court has been very diligent about getting attorneys and avoiding this problem for as long as they possibly could,” said Gunnels.

The County court system has seen the consequences of this shortage in the last few weeks; defendants charged with serious crimes did not have an attorney identified to represent them and were released by the court. This, Gunnels said, is a very serious problem.

As of May 14, six defendants have been released. Some of the individuals released were arrested for crimes including sexual abuse and luring of minors, to name a few.

This happens due to rules limiting how long someone can remain without representation. Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane ruled in Washington County that anyone held in jail without a court-appointed lawyer will be released 10 days after their initial court appearance.

The Deschutes County court has been acting on that order, said Gunnels, treating it as guidance on how long to hold someone who hasn’t had an attorney appointed. The vast majority, about 90% of individuals going through the criminal justice system, need representation from public defenders, said Wirtz.

The initial solution, according to Wirtz, is to find and hire attorneys at an hourly rate. This can work for a while, but it will likely take several months. At the moment, there aren’t enough attorneys in Oregon that can take the cases to fill the gap the County currently has, he said.

“There’s only so much capacity in Oregon. There has been a drop in attorneys in Oregon overall. I think it has to do a lot with the pandemic. A lot of people are starting to retire, and less people are going through law school now,” said Wirtz.

Meanwhile, the remaining local attorneys are taking on cases from departing attorneys. While this has caused their caseloads to expand, there are limits. “They can’t just take any case,” said Wirtz.

The Oregon Public Defense Commission, the group that establishes and maintains the statewide public defense system, has a yearly cap on the number of high-level cases an attorney can take. Gunnells, the DA, believes these rules and criteria are part of the problem, and that it should be left up to the attorney. “If an attorney believes they can handle another appointment, they should be given the additional appointment,” said Gunnels.

Wirtz also mentioned the growing problem with affordability in the area and hopes the County continues to work on housing. “It’s extremely difficult to get young professionals to come here in the last five years,” he said. “Without that change, we’re going to continue to stress the system, not just in public defense but in other professions.”

Longer-term, Wirtz hopes that different diversion programs will help alleviate the system, keeping more people out of jail.

“With the recriminalization of drugs, hopefully we’ll have a robust deflection system. That’s very important to not overwhelm the system,” said Wirtz. He sees a need for discussions around how to move cases through the system more efficiently but also fairly.

“The status quo is not going to be effective going forward. If we do the same thing we’ve done, we’re going to have a lot of people being unrepresented,” he said.

This article appears in Source Weekly May 16, 2024.