A judge has ruled that public defenders can refuse to take on more cases if they believe that the workload threatens their obligation to provide a defendant with ethical counsel.
The ruling stems from a case involving contracts in Marion and Coos counties but could reverberate statewide since the Oregon Public Defense Commission has hundreds of contracts with law firms and individual lawyers to represent people who are accused of crimes but cannot afford lawyers.
Circuit Judge Michael Wetzel ruled from the bench in a case filed by Marion County’s largest provider of public defense services and Southwestern Oregon Public Defense, a firm based in Coos Bay. Both are nonprofit firms…