A federal judge has ordered Oregon counties to release criminal defendants from jail if they aren’t appointed an attorney within a week of their first court appearance. In his Thursday ruling, U.S.
FILE - Courtroom notes showing that a Washington County, Ore., judge threatened to hold Oregon Public Defense Services in contempt of court for not providing a public defender to a criminal defendant are seen in Portland, May 4, 2022. A federal judge on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023, has ordered Oregon counties to release criminal defendants from jail if they aren’t appointed an attorney within a week of their first court appearance.
Roughly 135 people were in Oregon jails without access to attorneys at the end of October, the judge said. Many of them had technically been appointed public defenders but no attorney ever actually showed up to represent them. State laws generally require that criminal defendants have their first court appearance within 36 hours of being arrested, though that time frame doesn’t include weekends.
“America’s dirty little secret is that thousands of people go to jail every single day in our country without ever having spoken to an attorney,” said David Carroll, executive director and founder of the Sixth Amendment Center, which advocates for equal access in the criminal justice system.
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