House of Delegates Resolution 1
Proposed Resolution for Support for Public Defense Providers
Whereas, the Constitutions of both Oregon and the United States require that all people facing a possible deprivation of their physical liberty in court proceedings, such as those accused of criminal offenses, juveniles accused of conduct that would constitute crimes if committed by an adult, and those who are subjects of civil commitment proceedings, have the right to assistance by ethical and competent legal counsel;
Whereas, Oregon statutes guarantee a right to counsel for parents defending against a petition to terminate their parental rights, for parents in juvenile dependency proceedings in which parents may lose custody of their children whenever the nature of the proceedings and due process so require, and for children in juvenile dependency proceedings when requested.
Whereas, those same constitutions and statutes require that the counsel provided the person be paid for by the government, if the person is indigent and cannot afford their own legal counsel;
Whereas, the Sixth Amendment Center published in January 2019 a comprehensive study of Oregon’s public defense system and determined that Oregon’s fixed-fee contract system pits appointed counsels’ financial self-interest against the due process rights of their clients and is prohibited by national public defense standards;
Whereas, the American Bar Association published in January 2022 its report on its calculations of the amount of time public defense providers should spend on average on the various types of public defense cases and concluded that Oregon had one-third the number of public defense attorneys needed to ensure that indigent clients receive constitutionally competent representation;
Whereas, there is a salary and resource disparity between most trial level legal counsel for the person and legal counsel for the State;
Whereas, most trial level legal counsel for the person are government contractors and legal counsel for the State are government employees funded through direct appropriations;
Whereas, legal counsel for the person has an ethical and professional obligation pursuant to the state and federal constitutions, as well as Oregon Rules of Professional Conduct 1.1 (“A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client”), 1.3 (“A lawyer shall not neglect a legal matter entrusted to the lawyer”) and 1.7 (“A lawyer shall not represent a client if the representation involves a current conflict of interest”) to provide adequate and conflict-free representation;
Whereas, the American Bar Association has acknowledged for over a decade that resource parity, salary parity, and caseload workload standards are essential to its “Ten Principles of Public Defense”;
Whereas, the House of Delegates has long supported a strong public defense system and increased financial resources for public defense providers; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that the Oregon State Bar, through its Board of Governors and staff, continue to participate actively with in efforts by courts, prosecutors, the Oregon Department of Justice, the Legislative Assembly, the Public Defense Services Commission, the Office of Public Defense Services, Oregon Public Defense Commission, the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and other public safety and child welfare stakeholders, to obtain equal resources and commensurate compensation for public defense providers, and work toward developing caseload workload standards that ensure those public defense providers can meet their constitutional and ethical obligations.
Financial Impact
None stated.
Submitted by:
Keiler Beers, HOD Region 5
Amy Bingham, HOD Region 6
Janae Bly, HOD Region 3
Laura Coffin, HOD Region 2
Kristen Farnworth, HOD Region 6
Shannon Flowers, HOD Region 6
Joshua Gums, HOD Region 1
Jennifer Kinzey, HOD Region 4
Adam LeBrun, HOD Region 4
Kyra Rohner
John Schlosser, HOD Region 5
Vote Percentages
Yes Votes: 136
|
No Votes: 8
|
Abstentions: 6
|
Vote Tally
Name |
Yes |
---|---|
Douglas Primmer | Yes |
Michael Lowry | Yes |
Leslie Nelson | Yes |
Amy Bingham | Yes |
Timothy Williams | Yes |
Mia Getlin | Yes |
Ryan Collier | Yes |
Stephanie Brown | Yes |
Shannon Flowers | Yes |
William Dozier | Yes |
Ryan Jennings | Yes |
Kimberly Riley | Yes |
Vanessa Nordyke | Yes |
Michael Purcell | Yes |
Jus Singh | Yes |
Aurelia Erickson | Yes |
Carl Mueller | Yes |
Matthew McKean | Yes |
Clinton Williams | Yes |
Shawn Lillegren | Yes |
Jordan Schoonover | Yes |
Christopher Larsen | Yes |
Emily Oberdorfer | Yes |
Michael Stevens | Yes |
Erin Christison | Yes |
Sonia Montalbano | Yes |
Nicholas Yanchar | Yes |
Brian Stimson | Yes |
Sage Ertman | Yes |
Maureen McGee | Yes |
Mario Musil | Yes |
Michael Fuller | Yes |
Cameron Tinker | Yes |
Bradley Holbrook | Yes |
Sonya Fischer | Yes |
Kyle Sciuchetti | Yes |
H Zamudio | Yes |
Myah Kehoe | Yes |
Catherine Schulist | Yes |
Jason Posner | Yes |
Jon Rand | Yes |
Sara Butcher | Yes |
Scott Lucas | Yes |
Ron Cheng | Yes |
Laura Burgee | Yes |
Kellie Furr | Yes |
Andrea Madison | Yes |
Joseph Hesbrook | Yes |
Jeremy Bordelon | Yes |
Garrett Ramsey | Yes |
Shane Davis | Yes |
Brent Smith | Yes |
John Devlin | Yes |
Earl Christison | Yes |
Trevor Byrd | Yes |
Sara Foroshani | Yes |
Kristen Farnworth | Yes |
Hertsel Shadian | Yes |
Kirsten Naito | Yes |
Tomas Hernandez | Yes |
Faith Morse | Yes |
Steve Milla | Yes |
Kevin Yolken | Yes |
John Grant | Yes |
John Bachofner | Yes |
Russell Garrett | Yes |
Greg Raburn | Yes |
Elizabeth Inayoshi | Yes |
Christopher Morgan | Yes |
Jason Mitchell | Yes |
Ronald Elzinga | Yes |
Joshua Gums | Yes |
Andrew Schpak | Yes |
David Wade | Yes |
Brian Gardner | Yes |
Daniel Lang | Yes |
Joshua Lay | Yes |
Eddie Medina | Yes |
David Robinson | Yes |
Philip Kirk | Yes |
Emet Klepper | Yes |
Kamron Graham | Yes |
Theresa Kohlhoff | Yes |
Matthew Sutton | Yes |
Eddie Passadore | Yes |
Lake James Perriguey | Yes |
Heather Decker | Yes |
Mike Truesdale | Yes |
Laura Coffin | Yes |
Lauren Grace | Yes |
Daniel Evans | Yes |
Andrew Mittendorf | Yes |
Apolinar Montero-Sanchez | Yes |
Whitney Stark | Yes |
Adam LeBrun | Yes |
John Marandas | Yes |
Amanda Caffall | Yes |
Samuel Imperati | Yes |
Nicholas Lumley | Yes |
Angela Engstrom | Yes |
Kate Flanagan | Yes |
Joseph Connelly | Yes |
David Wu | Yes |
Thomas Flaherty | Yes |
Janae Bly | Yes |
James Klonoski | Yes |
Jennifer Kinzey | Yes |
Chase Beguin | Yes |
Christopher Potts | Yes |
Karen Moore | Yes |
Emily Shack | Yes |
Jennifer Meisberger | Yes |
Victory Walker | Yes |
Brent Barton | Yes |
Esther Smith | Yes |
Ryan Bickler | Yes |
Frederick Lundblade | Yes |
Juhi Aggarwal | Yes |
Kristie Gibson | Yes |
James Gregory | Yes |
B Felder | Yes |
Curtis Peterson | Yes |
Rick Quarles | Yes |
Xin Xu | Yes |
Rudy Lachenmeier | Yes |
Peter Werner | Yes |
Amber Labrecque | Yes |
Michelle Burrows | Yes |
Bradley Thayer | Yes |
Nicole Tudhope | Yes |
Cody Berne | Yes |
Joseph Walsh | Yes |
Wendie Kellington | Yes |
Benjamin Haile | Yes |
Shallon Martin | Yes |
Nicole Harris | Yes |
Name |
No |
---|---|
Kay Teague | No |
Travis Benn | No |
Linda Degman | No |
Mark Johnson-Roberts | No |
Andrew Johnson | No |
James Oberholtzer | No |
Elizabeth Savage | No |
Howard Newman | No |
Name |
Abstain |
---|---|
Jeremiah Ross | Abstain |
Melissa Bobadilla | Abstain |
Melissa Jaffe | Abstain |
Royce Williams | Abstain |
Shiwanni Johnson | Abstain |
Emil Ali | Abstain |