To protect the public, we must reduce public defender caseloads

No one disputes that Washington has a public defense crisis. This crisis isn’t new; The Seattle Times has reported on it since at least 2004. The Washington State Bar Association, acting on the advice of the American Bar Association and the RAND corporation, recently recommended that the Washington Supreme Court reduce public defender caseloads by up to two-thirds by 2027 — a long overdue decision that will protect all Washingtonians’ constitutional rights. Our Supreme Court must approve these standards.  

Unfortunately, two powerful King County judges — both former prosecutors — recently published an op-ed [“Plan to cut WA public defender caseloads would have profound consequences,” Sept. 12] urging our state Supreme Court to reject new caseload standards, which would prolong the public defense crisis. If the court follows their advice, our state’s public defense system will finally collapse, leaving everyone less safe.

Public defenders protect 80% to 90% of Washingtonians accused of crimes, according to the Washington State Supreme Court Minority and Justice Commission. But right now, 87% of Washington counties cannot recruit or retain sufficient public defenders. This January, Washington’s chief justice, Stephen Gonzalez, acknowledged “significant and unacceptable delays in appointment of counsel for people accused of crimes.” A bipartisan group of state legislators, led by state Sen. Nikki Torres, R-Pasco, declared that “people are not getting the proper representation that they need.”

This crisis harms everyone. Public defenders are often the only line of defense against our increasingly intrusive government. Washington’s police officers are now able to obtain cellphone location data showing a person’s movements for days, weeks or even months — or track them in real time. Powerful devices allow officers to decrypt and view anything on your phone or computer. Databases of DNA permit officers to reconstruct your entire family tree, enabling them to learn your family’s most intimate secrets.  

All Americans understand that the government will abuse this power without proper oversight, but prosecutors rarely police the police — or face consequences for their own mistakes and misconduct. When Washington prosecutors withhold critical evidence from defense attorneys, including evidence of law enforcement misconduct, they often do so without penalty.

Judges also frequently fail to protect defendants’ rights by holding police officers and prosecutors accountable. Often, judges are former prosecutors. Thirty-two of King County’s 54 Superior Court judges (59%) are former city, county or state prosecutors, while only 13 (24%) were ever public defenders — four of whom later became prosecutors. This imbalance makes anti-defendant bias inevitable, especially because prosecutors’ offices also actively silence, intimidate and replace judges they deem insufficiently compliant.

Washington’s overworked public defenders are forced to keep police, prosecutors and judges in check. Lowering public defender caseloads is the only reliable way to prevent wrongful convictions, excessive punishments and wasted public resources.

The judges who opposed lowering caseloads paid lip service to these concerns, even acknowledging that public defenders are undervalued. Then, they urged Washington’s Supreme Court to continue undervaluing us. These former prosecutors asked for yet another task force — the best way to kill any policy you don’t like — to study a decadeslong crisis that has already been exhaustively studied. These judges correctly observe that Washington currently has no strategy to adequately fund public defense or change prosecutorial culture. But no such strategy exists because politicians and prosecutors have spent years kicking the can down the road. Now, these judges urge them to kick that can even farther.

If the Washington Supreme Court follows these judges’ advice, Washington’s public defense system will finally collapse. Public defenders will either quit outright or refuse to participate in a sham legal system that fails to safeguard individual rights. These judges claimed that reduced public defender caseloads will harm public safety, but nothing threatens the public more than unchecked government power.

Public defenders fight that power every day with only one weapon: the truth. Finding the truth takes time, but our current workloads force us to spend minutes doing work that takes days. Washingtonians deserve better. Our Supreme Court must reduce public defender caseloads.