Morrow County sees rise in aid-and-assist cases
By Terry Murry on Monday, March 7th, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
MORROW COUNTY – Morrow County is seeing a jump in the number of criminal cases where the suspects’ ability to aid and assist in their defense is being questioned. Currently, there are five such cases in that process.
“Morrow County may have only one person at most at a time,” District Attorney Justin Nelson said. “Then, it might be three or four months between that person and another one. Right now, having five individuals in that process – that’s pretty shocking to me.”
Evaluating whether a person is capable of aiding and assisting in the case against them means they have to be transported to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem. Once there, they undergo a one-day evaluation.
“They come back to the jail waiting for the report,” Nelson said. “The report might take 30 days.”
Nelson said so far all of the individuals’ evaluations have come back indicated they do need treatment. Usually that means the person must get in line, due to a backlog, to return to the state hospital for treatment.
Nelson said some people may wonder why the court doesn’t get the necessary treatment locally instead of going to Salem. He said the jail isn’t built to accommodate such treatment, and the court isn’t willing to release the defendants on their own recognizance.
“Most of the people we’re dealing with on aid and assist are being held in our jail,” he said. “They’re not being held because of mental health issues. They’re being held because the court believes that they’re a threat to the community or also because they may not show back up for court.”
