An inmate peers though the window of a cell at the Jackson County Jail. Oregon's federal public defender is asking a federal judge to release indigent defendants from jail and dismiss charges against them if the state cannot appoint an attorney for them.

Oregon’s federal public defender is asking a U.S. District Court judge to release defendants and dismiss charges against them if counsel cannot be provided within 48 hours of arraignment. 

Fidel Cassino-DuCloux filed a request for a preliminary injunction Friday on behalf of numerous Washington County defendants who lack representation. The lawsuit against the county’s sheriff and judges asks that those unrepresented defendants be provided money to hire their own private attorneys or else release them from custody.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael McShane last month ordered Washington County Sheriff Patrick Garrett to release defendants from jail if they could not be provided with an attorney within 10 days of arraignment. So far Garrett has not released any defendants. 

Cassino-DuCloux’s request for an injunction asks the court to shorten the timeline from 10 days to 48 hours, and expands the lawsuit to cover defendants from all parts of the state. 

Pull Quote

“Before we were only focusing on Washington County, and now we’re focused on everyone throughout the state. Why the shift? Because the Constitution of the United States of America requires anyone that is charged with a crime, who is poor, be provided a lawyer. It’s not my shift; it’s a constitutional shift.”

— Fidel Cassino-DuCloux, Oregon federal public defender

“Before we were only focusing on Washington County, and now we’re focused on everyone throughout the state,” Cassino-DuCloux said in an interview Monday. “Why the shift? Because the Constitution of the United States of America requires anyone that is charged with a crime, who is poor, be provided a lawyer. It’s not my shift; it’s a constitutional shift.”

Despite the federal public defender’s filing, Jackson County District Attorney Beth Heckert said she does not see local legal implications arising from the Washington County case.

“This would not have any direct legal impact on Jackson County unless they file suit here,” Heckert wrote in an email, adding that Jackson County Sheriff Nate Sickler, not her, would be party to the lawsuit. If that lawsuit were filed, Joel Benton, Jackson County’s attorney, would represent Sickler.

Sickler did not return calls asking for comment, and Benton declined to comment for this story.

Cassino-DuCloux’s class-action lawsuit is one of the latest chapters in Oregon’s public defender shortage crisis. Hundreds of defendants throughout the state, whether lodged in jail or not, have gone days, weeks or months without representation while the state works to find them attorneys. In Oregon, public defenders are contract workers, not government employees like prosecutors. McShane called the crisis “an embarrassment.”

In Jackson County Circuit Court, Presiding Judge Benjamin Bloom considered issuing an order similar to McShane’s but decided against it after consulting with other Jackson County judges, local stakeholders, presiding judges in other judicial districts and the Office of the State Court Administrator.

Bloom instead issued a “crisis plan,” per senate Bill 337, to the state outlining steps Jackson County will take to quell the public defender shortage.

Through a spokesperson, Bloom said he is not able to comment on the class-action lawsuit filed by the federal public defender.

Garrett and Washington County Circuit Court judges have been asked by the court to respond to Cassino-DuCloux’s request for injunction by Sept. 21. A hearing on the matter is set for Oct. 24 in Eugene before McShane.