Hermiston helps DA’s office

By Terry Murry on Tuesday, December 19th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

UMATILLA COUNTY – Since 2014, the city of Hermiston has been sending its type-A misdemeanor cases to the Sixth Circuit Court instead of trying them in municipal court. That’s ending. The Hermiston City Council voted recently that the cases can be heard in Hermiston Municipal Court.

Municipal Judge Cameron Bendixsen has told the city council that because of improvements in systems, the city court can now handle those cases, many of which are driving under the influence of intoxicants trials, quicker than the Umatilla County District Attorney’s Office can.

At the time of the move, almost 10 years ago, the district attorney’s office accepted the cases, but not with eagerness. The DA’s office is historically understaffed and now there is also a staffing shortage of public defense attorneys. The office has funding for 10 lawyers, but presently there are only five and Primus said they are scrambling to keep up with cases.

“This is going to release a lot of pressure on us for our office,” he said. “It’s quite a significant number of cases.”