What do you do if a defendant in a criminal matter isn’t able to afford their own attorney? Lawyers fresh from finals or anyone who’s heard the Miranda rights bit from a Law & Order episode will tell you that a lawyer will be appointed to you. But real life is often more complicated than outlines and TV screens. There’s been a widespread shortage of public attorneys across the country, and Pennsylvania, Washington, and Massachusetts are just a few examples where the dearth is the worst. Massachusetts is interesting because their Supreme Court went on record to consider the stretched schedules of public defendants to be so bad that it was an effective assistance of counsel issue. The need for public defenders is so dire in Oregon that their answer to the pragmatic question of “what is to be done” is double-take worthy — they’re letting defendants who don’t have lawyers within seven days walk free. From AP News:
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a ruling that Oregon defendants must be released from jail after seven days if they don’t have a defense attorney.
In its decision, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called Oregon’s public defense system a “Sixth Amendment nightmare,” OPB reported, referring to the part of the U.S. Constitution that guarantees people accused of crimes the right to a lawyer. The opinion said Oregon is responsible for upholding legal protections for criminal defendants.
Oregon has struggled for years to address its public defender crisis. As of Friday, more than 3,200 defendants did not have a public defender, a dashboard from the Oregon Judicial Department showed.
This outcome isn’t ideal by any means, but what do you do? There are plans in place that will grow Oregon’s budget, hopefully enough to attract the 500 or so attorneys they’d need to meet the demand Gideon establishes. In the meantime, try to be considerate and break the law in a state that can afford to assign you counsel. Either that or see if you can wait the week out.
Oregon Defendants Without A Lawyer Must Be Released From Jail, US Appeals Court Says [AP News]
Earlier: Public Defender Schedules Are So Swamped It Probably Isn’t Constitutional
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
