Everett awards new public defender contract

Published 10:19 pm Monday, June 22, 2009

EVERETT — New court- appointed defense attorneys will be assigned to handle roughly 2,400 active criminal misdemeanor cases in Everett Municipal Court during the next few weeks.

The cases are changing hands after Everett opened its public defense contract to competition in an effort to cap the spiraling cost of providing lawyers for low-income people accused of crimes in the city’s court system.

A team of attorneys from Yakima and Seattle last week won a $2.2 million contract to serve as the city’s public defender for the next two and a half years. The group says it will employ a total of six lawyers full time to handle between 4,000 and 5,000 new cases a year.

Jon Lewis, one of the attorneys who lives in Yakima, said his group has experience with heavy case loads and he and his group can bring exceptional representation to its clients in Everett.

Their bid was $500,000 less than any other offer — more than $1 million less than a losing proposal by Association of Attorneys for the Accused, the current public defender that has held the contract for decades.

Robert Boruchowitz, a Seattle University law professor, said he has concerns that the low bid could result in defense lawyers taking on too many cases, leaving them without enough time to build an adequate defense for their clients.

“Nationally, instances of picking the lowest bidder have sometimes led to problems,” Boruchowitz said. He recently co-authored a national study that found defenders in misdemeanor courts often carry crushing workloads that make it impossible to effectively represent clients.

City officials maintain that price wasn’t the only factor guiding their decision to swap public defenders.

City Council President Arlan Hatloe said the winning bidders distinguished themselves in many ways and are expected to bring a more efficient paperless case-management system to the court.

Citing a desire to meet Washington State Bar Association case load standards, Everett’s former City Attorney Ned Johnston led a charge to increase the budget for the city’s public defender earlier this decade.

Between 2005 and 2008, the city’s annual public defender budget ballooned from $360,000 to more than $1 million. It’s on pace to reach $1.17 million this year.

That ramp-up allowed Association of Attorneys for the Accused, the law firm that served as the city’s public defender for decades, to pare down case loads and increase its number of lawyers from three to eight.

Even with eight lawyers, its defenders were carrying case loads of more than double the caseload limits recommended by the legal community.

Everett City Attorney Jim Iles said many of the city’s cases require little legal advising.

“You have to look at the broader picture,” he said, pointing out that driving with a suspended license charges account for roughly 40 percent of the cases in Everett.

The city also plans to begin a more intensive screening process to see if people seeking free legal help actually qualify for it. Iles said that should result in fewer clients going to the public defender.

David Chircop: 425-339-3429, dchircop@heraldnet.com.

By the numbers

The city of Everett last week hired a new contract public defender for Everett Municipal Court. Case loads and compensation for public defenders have increased substantially since 2005, according to the city.

Number of cases by year:

2005: 2,740

2006: 3,279

2007: 4,735

2008: 4,516

2009: 5,000 (projected)

2010: 5,000 (projected)

Public defender spending in Everett Municipal Court:

2005: $360,000

2006: $560,250

2007: $1.13 million

2008: $1.06 million

2009: $1.17 million (projected)

2010: $900,000 (projected)

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