WA Office of Public Defense states system in crisis
By Terry Murry on Monday, December 18th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
OLYMPIA – Washington State Public Defense Director Larry Jefferson wants the Washington Supreme Court to take action as the state reforms its public defense system.
In a letter to the justices, Jefferson said the state’s criminal public defense system is now facing a “grave crisis” and “is on the verge of collapse”. Jefferson wrote to the justices of the court making three specific requests.
First, he wants a 90-day moratorium to begin Jan. 1, 2024, on assigning or appointing new felony out-of-custody clients to public defenders. Second, he wants to restrict assigning or appointing new clients only to public defenders whose current caseloads are below 20 percent of the current state counts.
His third request is that the restricted caseload limit remain in place until new caseload standards take effect. Those standards are being developed by the Washington Bar Association’s Council on Public Defense as requested by the Supreme Court.
