SPOKANE, WA – Spokane officials warned Monday that the city may need to triple the size of the Public Defender’s Office by 2036 to comply with unfunded mandates imposed by the state’s high court.
The Washington Supreme Court issued an order last year that reduced the number of cases each public defender can handle from 400 to 120 annually. While Spokane’s attorneys have seen about 320 to 360 cases annually over the past few years, their caseloads are peaking under the city’s new camping ban.
Chief Public Defender Nick Antush told the Spokane City Council on Monday that his office has already refused over 160 cases so far this year due to a lack of resources – cases where taxpayers already foot the bill for the arrests, jail and other justice services, only to be thrown out due to a lack of public defenders…