Chief Justice Meagan A. Flynn has warned all Oregon judges to use “extraordinary caution” in taking a position on the state’s public defense crisis while she lobbies to significantly raise their pay.
Flynn wrote that “one wrong statement or move could have significant consequences to the judicial branch and everything that we have all worked so hard to achieve.”
Lawmakers are considering a bill that would boost the salaries of more than 200 state judges by nearly 30% — amounting to raises of about $55,000 to $60,000 per year.
Flynn on Monday sent an email to judges, who are independently elected officials, saying the Legislature has reached a “critical moment” and “much is at stake.”
She urged judges to “keep in extraordinarily close touch” with the Oregon Judicial Department if they are “approached” to provide opinions, support or oppose proposed policies related to Oregon’s ongoing problems providing attorneys to indigent criminal defendants
It also comes as top prosecutors in Washington and Multnomah counties shop around a proposal to address the dearth of available public defenders. Among their ideas: requiring presiding judges to play an active role in identifying available defense lawyers.
Flynn’s message to Oregon judges was direct and unequivocal. She said the proposal to boost judges’ salaries has received “positive feedback” from lawmakers, but she stressed — and wrote in bold — “the environment is precarious.”
“This is a deeply difficult issue,” Oregon’s top jurist wrote.
Flynn signed off on a recent Judicial Department analysis that concluded the state’s plan to address the escalating backlog of criminal defendants without court-appointed lawyers will not only fail to solve the problem but is expected to exacerbate it.
The state has poured nearly $100 million into public defense to secure more lawyers, raise their pay and reduce their workloads.
The Oregon Public Defense Commission, an agency under Gov. Tina Kotek, has opened a statewide trial division. The agency’s leaders said public defenders with state contracts have taken more than 120,000 cases since July 2023 and that the agency is working to build “additional capacity.”
But the problem persists with an estimated 4,300 people accused of crimes lacking representation throughout Oregon — a record. About 150 people accused of crimes are sitting in jails without lawyers, the Judicial Department’s latest tally shows.
On Tuesday, Kotek’s spokesperson said the governor “appreciates” the recent analysis “and continues to review it.”
“The Governor has been clear to OPDC (Oregon Public Defense Commission )that the agency’s number one job is to act with the urgency necessary to make sure every person charged who needs an attorney has one,” said spokesperson Roxy Mayer. “The public defense crisis poses an urgent threat to public safety and delays justice for victims.”
— Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184; ncrombie@oregonian.com