DA: public defender shortage is ‘an urgent threat to public safety’
By KPTV Staff
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MULTNOMAH COUNTY, Oregon (KPTV) — Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt is calling the critical need for public defenders in the justice system “an urgent threat to public safety.”
Schmidt says the courts have dismissed almost 300 cases since February because there are not enough public defenders in the system to provide a defense to those accused of crimes who don’t have the money to pay for their own defense, and suspects have a constitutional right to a defense.
The cases being dismissed are both misdemeanors and felonies, including property crimes, crimes involving firearms, low-level assaults but also cases of domestic violence.
Right now, cases are routinely dismiss because the suspects don’t have defense attorneys.
“Just last week, a suspect that allegedly ran a car into a school bus of children, which subsequently had to be evacuated due to a leak caused by the incident, was released within 24 hours of his arrest due to lack of a defense counsel,” Schmidt said in a statement Monday.
He goes on to say, “Prosecutors in my office have and will continue to issue cases for prosecution and reissue cases that have been dismissed as soon as we are able. We refuse to turn our backs on victims simply because one pillar of our justice system is crumbling.”
Not only are victims waiting for justice, the district attorney says those committing crimes are not being held accountable. Schmidt says this is an urgent and continuing threat to public safety.
The American Bar Association says Oregon has only 31% of the public defenders it needs.
Last August, Oregon’s Chief Justice Martha Walters fired the state’s entire Public Defense Services Commission because the system was in such a mess. The commission has since hired a new executive director who will try to fix the understaffed and underfunded system.
Meantime, Schmidt says from now on his office will publish a list of every case that gets dismissed or set over because there aren’t enough public defenders. He wants the public to be aware of what’s going on.
View of full list of felonies and misdemeanors dismissed by the court in 2022, click here for case numbers.
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