The number of Oregonians charged with a crime who don’t have an attorney has decreased by 30%, according to the head of the Oregon Public Defense Commission.
Both the United States and Oregon Constitutions require the state to pay for attorneys for those who can’t afford one. But Oregon has failed to meet that constitutional obligation for years.
FILE: Ken Sanchagrin is the interim leader of the Oregon Public Defense Commission.
Kelvin_Watkins_Photography
In June, the new head of the Oregon Public Defense Commission unveiled a 12-month plan to stem the crisis. The commission is the agency largely charged with fixing the problem. The wide-ranging plan included creating a pool of attorneys throughout the state who can take on extra cases and establishing diversion programs so people could bypass the court.
The plan is working, according to Ken Sanchagrin, OPDC’s interim executive director.
“Early indicators suggest that the strategies in our plan are improving access to counsel across much of the state,” Sanchagrin said in a statement.
As of this week, there were 2,835 people waiting for an attorney compared with 4,029 on the first of May, according to state figures.
Some public defenders said their reality hasn’t aligned yet with the latest data.
Stacey Reding, the executive director of Multnomah Defenders, Inc., said she hasn’t seen the latest numbers, but her “on the ground” perspective is that the crisis is far from over.
Reding, who told OPB on Thursday that she was working despite having COVID-19, said her office of about 30 attorneys is slammed.
“People at my office are working very hard day in and day out,” she said. “For us to dig out of the crisis, we need more public defenders and fewer criminal cases coming into the system, or some combination of that,” she said.
The Public Defenders of Marion County is currently suing the Oregon Public Defense Commission. The nonprofit provider of public defense is arguing that the current contract has quotas that are impossible for public defenders to meet. It will argue its case in Clackamas County court on Friday.
FILE: Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, pictured in 2024.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
“The proposed state contract for public defenders undermines our legal system,” Shannon Wilson, the executive director of PDMC, said in a statement. “It will increase the number of people facing life-changing consequences with an attorney in name only. And, it will force qualified attorneys out of the workforce, making the crisis worse. When public defenders are forced to take more cases than they can competently handle, people without financial resources simply do not receive equal justice under the law.”
State Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, who is on the state’s public defense commission governing body, said the latest numbers were welcome news. But, he said, a lot of work remains.
“Reducing the backlog is only the first phase,” Evans said. “Maintaining accessibility, adequacy and accountability are the three pillars of sustainability in the public defense arena.”
