Some WA Defendants Wait Months In Jail For Public Defenders

Last summer, Robert Root of Washington state was charged with violating a no-contact order to stay away from his partner. Unable to afford an attorney and facing a dwindling roster of Yakima County public defenders, Root waited three months for a public defender to represent him for the felony charge. His partner repeatedly asked to lift the order, to no avail, as Root posted bail twice — before landing back in jail for violating the order each time. He’s since been assigned another attorney and sits in the county jail awaiting a trial date set for April 21, reports Investigate West. Root’s wait isn’t unusual. One woman arrested the same month as Root and facing a litany of charges related to theft and drug possession was arraigned eight times and waited five months for a public defender. Another defendant, charged with assault, waited five months. Another appeared at four arraignments without a public defender until his case was dismissed.

Lags in Yakima County’s court system reflect a breaking point in the state’s public defense system. A shortage of public defenders leaves indigent defendants waiting weeks, sometimes months for an attorney. These defendants often are left in the dark, oblivious to when or from whom they will have representation. In Washington, the issue varies by county due to the state’s lack of financial support and the counties’ differing models of service. “The Legislature has slowly choked the life out of local budgets,” said Derek Young of the Washington State Association of Counties. “We can’t afford proper staffing levels.” In what a worst-case scenario, Benton County released five criminal defendants with charges including rape and other violent crimes from jail last year because it lacked defense attorneys to represent them. “That’s where their constitutional right becomes now a public safety problem,” Young said. “The date we’ve been warning (the state) about for a long time has arrived. It’ll start in those places that have the hardest time recruiting attorneys.”