The last time judges in Marion County tried to force public defenders to take on new clients, more than half of the public defense staff quit and the issue landed at the state’s highest court.

That was in 2023. The Oregon State Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the case.

And now, with the public defense crisis still raging, Marion County judges have signaled once again they plan to make so-called force appointments.

Both the state and U.S. Constitutions guarantee the right to counsel for anyone charged with a crime who cannot afford a defense attorney. For years now, in Oregon, that hasn’t been happening. Recent numbers show the crisis is growing; the number of people who have been accused of a crime and are without an attorney has reached an all-time high in Oregon.

Shannon Wilson, the executive director of Public Defender of Marion County, said the judges’ move is “seriously misguided” and won’t result in people getting quality representation.

“I think their belief is that they are meeting their obligations as judges in providing an attorney in name only,” Wilson said.

But, Wilson said, that ignores the reality that public defenders are saying they don’t have the ability to provide good representation and therefore the clients will remain unrepresented on a practical level. Since the previous forced appointments, Wilson’s organization and the public defenders in Marion county have been in rebuilding mode and now have a staff of primarily newer attorneys. Wilson is worried forced appointments could mean they lose staff again and deepen the ongoing crisis.

At the end of February, Tracy Prall, the Marion County presiding judge, alerted attorneys in an email that Marion County judges met and “concluded that we need to stop adding to our unrepresented list which currently contains close to 800 cases.”

Prall wrote that the plan was to start appointments later this month. Todd Sprague, with the Oregon Judicial Department, said forced appointments are not happening at this time, but it is up to a county court when to start. Prall could not be reached for comment.

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). The numbers are constantly fluctuating.

Some 731 people who have been without representation for more than six months. Most of the people are currently not incarcerated; 191 are in custody, as of the end of January.

Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, who sits on the state commission charged with overseeing the state’s public defense system, said he is not opposed to the idea of forcing defense attorneys to take cases. Evans has felt like the crisis has dragged on too long and people have not addressed it with the required sense of urgency.

“If it’s a crisis and people aren’t getting represented, there is no wrong answer,” Evans said.

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.

A former Democratic lawmaker from Southern Oregon, Peter Buckley, who also sits on the Oregon Public Defense Commission, said forced appointments are not the answer.

“We’re going to continue to be in crisis until we increase compensation and reduce caseloads for public defenders,” Buckley said. “We need to recruit more public defenders.”

Buckley said it would make sense to recruit outside help to address the current crisis, which appears to be deepening quickly.

“But please let me be clear, if the proposal is to force public defenders to do more, to go beyond what they can do ethically, I am very much opposed,” Buckley said. “If the proposal is to require trial level attorneys who are outside of the public defense world to start taking public defense cases, I’m open to that.”

There is currently legislation being drafted that could require trial level attorneys to take a certain number of cases each year, Buckley said. A hearing on the public defense crisis is scheduled for Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Judiciary.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/03/04/marion-county-judge-law-public-defenders-defense-staff-oregon-attorney/