Nonprofit threatens to sue Franklin County after dozens of suspects don’t get attorneys

After five months of a critical shortage of attorneys to represent criminal defendants in Franklin County, the problem has eased this month.

But attorney Sheri Oertel said the relief is too little too late for all those who lost their right to an attorney for months. The county now is facing a possible lawsuit.

Oertel, who previously worked as a public defense attorney in Franklin County, is currently the felony resource attorney for the Washington Defender Association.

The organization is looking for a lawyer or group to challenge the decision by Benton-Franklin Superior Court judges that left about 80 defendants without legal representation for so long.

For some defendants, the delay has gone on for months.

“If we get an attorney who wants to work on a single case rather than try to certify a class (action lawsuit), it still benefits the group as a whole,” she told the Herald.

A person is constitutionally entitled to a trial two months after being formally charged if they’re in jail and haven’t agreed to the delay. Or a trial must begin within three months if the person is out of custody.

The constitution also promises an attorney if they can’t afford one to defend themselves.

The problem in Franklin County started in March after Franklin County had trouble replacing two public defense lawyers after their contracts ended. That left the county’s Office of Public Defense unable to provide attorneys to some suspects.

Attorney Larry Zeigler, the public defense manager, said he was focused getting help first to those who accused of committing violent crimes and were in jail. At the time, the county was averaging about 80 defendants who needed an attorney.

After about five months, the Office of Public Defense was able to hire two new attorneys to start handling the backlog.

“We got our noses above the waterline,” Zeigler said.

Defense attorneys

During the shortage, the Superior Court judges told the Herald in a joint statement that they were looking at every option to help deal with the problem.

They had the option to hire defense attorneys, who would get paid out of the county’s budget.

County officials said the amount of money necessary would have been too much.

The judges also could dismiss the cases or release suspects to give the county more time to find defense attorneys before they had to hold a trial.

Judges declared it was an unforeseen emergency that warranted continuing the cases when the suspect didn’t have a lawyer.

But Oertel told the Tri-City Herald that was the improper. She said the judges can’t find good cause to violate someone’s civil rights.

“Checks and balances fail when one branch colludes with one or more other branches,” she said. “Here the judges are colluding with both the prosecutors and the Office of Public Defense administrators.”

The association has been actively seeking an attorney to challenge the rulings that kept extending the time suspects spent in jail, Oertel said.

Even with recent improvements, Oertel said they have dozens of people who have been denied their rights.

“Precedent is clear, once the ... speedy trial right is violated, anything occurring beyond that doesn’t matter, the case must be dismissed,” she told the Herald. “If this occurs, it will cause hundreds of cases in Franklin County and likely 70-100 in Benton County to be overturned and dismissed.”

She said the judges were told by a state Supreme Court justice that keeping defendants in jail past the speedy trial deadline would violate their rights.

The Superior Court judges said they couldn’t comment on the potential case.

“It is each judge’s duty to decide a case according to the law and the facts,” they told the Tri-City Herald in a joint statement. “A party, who feels aggrieved by the court’s decision, may seek appellate review as provided by the rules of appellate procedure.”

Dozens of cases delayed

Oertel said she can point to dozens of cases where defendants are having to make decisions where they needed an attorney’s advice.

One of the most dramatic is the case of Jose M. Flores Ramirez, 35, who was charged in connection with a May 2021 Pasco assault.

Ramirez told detectives he hit a man with a metal pipe after his mother was insulted.

Prosecutors initially charged him in July 2021 with second-degree assault, but the charge was dismissed in January 2022. According to court documents, they were planning to file the case in District Court.

The prosecutors attempted to put Flores Ramirez into a diversion program, but he failed to complete community service.

Then, prosecutors filed the charge again in February 2023. He entered a plea, but was never given an attorney during his arraignment.

When he failed to show up for his next hearing a warrant was issued, and he was arrested. Since then, he’s been in jail without a lawyer assigned.

After two months, he was fed up being in jail and declared in court on Aug. 8 that he wanted to plead guilty.

Attorney Tim Dickerson was assigned within days. He pointed out that Flores Ramirez continued to want to plead guilty, even after a key witness died, according to court documents.

Dickerson asked for his client to be released because he believed his client just wanted to work.

Deputy Prosecutor Daniel Stovern argued against the change because Flores Ramirez didn’t finish his community service.

The hearing ended with a decision that the prosecutor couldn’t accept a guilty plea given that it didn’t seem that Flores Ramirez was informed about the potential immigration consequences.

If Flores Ramirez is released, he has an outstanding warrant in Benton County and would end up needing to face those charges too.

This story was originally published August 27, 2023 at 5:00 AM.