HILLSBORO, Ore. — A federal court order issued Tuesday requires the Washington County Sheriff's Office to release defendants facing criminal charges from jail within 10 days if they can't secure legal representation.
Washington County District Attorney Kevin Barton acknowledged the ruling in a news release Tuesday evening. He issued a statement calling on Oregon leaders to take "immediate and meaningful action" to address the state's chronic public defender shortage, and said his office would continue to advocate for solutions in court.
"Defendants have a right to an attorney, victims have the right to a day in court, and the public has a right to a functional criminal justice system that keeps people safe," he said. "All three of these rights must be honored."
Fidel Cassino-DuCloux, the Federal Public Defender for Oregon, filed the case against Sheriff Pat Garrett in July on behalf of multiple defendants in Washington County, arguing that holding them in jail or placing them under restrictive conditions without public defenders available deprives them of their Sixth Amendment right to an attorney.
The petitioners filed a motion last week asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order compelling the sheriff to release all of the defendants from jail after seven days unless attorneys were appointed to them, and court records show the motion was partially granted at a hearing on Tuesday.
Oregon's public defender system is the only one in the nation that relies entirely on contractors. A report by the American Bar Association released in January 2022 found that the state has only 31% of the public defenders it needs.
Washington County had 311 unrepresented defendants (only 37 of whom were being held in jail) as of Wednesday, according to data from the Oregon Judicial Department, the third-largest number in the state behind 530 in Jackson County and 505 in Multnomah County.
Multnomah County dismissed a total of 285 criminal court cases between February and October of 2022 due to the lack of public defense attorneys, prompting District Attorney Mike Schmidt issue his own public call for state action, arguing that the high rate of case dismissals sends a message that there's no accountability for people who commit crimes.
Earlier this year, Barton's office announced the results of a program called "Wingspan III" that was intended to address the representation shortage by streamlining the efforts of prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges. In a news release, the DA's office said it got through more than 100 criminal cases in a 6-week timespan. At the time, Barton told KGW that the public defender crisis has gotten worse in Washington County in the past couple of years.