The Vancouver City Council on Monday approved a new indigent defense contract for 2015 worth nearly $1.1 million, approximately twice what it spent this year.
The additional expense, which was included in the approved 2015-16 budget, enables the city to meet legal standards set by the Washington Supreme Court to help ensure that indigent defendants receive adequate representation.
In 2012, the state’s high court said attorneys who represent indigent defendants can’t handle more than 400 misdemeanor cases or 150 felony cases a year.
Implementation was delayed until 2015.
Unlike some counties, Clark County does not have a public defender’s office. Instead, it contracts with individual attorneys. The county picks up the indigent defense tab for people charged with felony crimes, but the city of Vancouver has to pay for attorneys to represent people arrested in the city and charged with misdemeanor crimes, such as driving while intoxicated or fourth-degree assault.
The city contracts with Vancouver Defenders, a firm owned by attorney Jeff Barrar. Under the new contract, he’ll increase the number of attorneys assigned to Vancouver cases from seven to 10.
In a Dec. 3 memo to the council, City Manager Eric Holmes wrote that the seven attorneys have each been handling a caseload of between 550 to 650 cases per year.
Many of the cases are probation violations or for driving with a suspended license, which take a minimal amount of time to resolve, Holmes added.
In addition to funding more positions, more money will be given to each attorney, Holmes wrote.
“The Washington State Bar Association recommends that public defenders and prosecuting attorneys be paid at comparable rates. This increase brings our public defense attorneys in line with what the county is paying for their public defense services but is still significantly below what city and county prosecuting attorneys are paid,” Holmes wrote.
The new contract includes money for technology, as District Court has gone paperless and attorneys need either electronic tablets or laptops to access police reports and other documents while in court, Holmes wrote.
The city will also pay Vancouver Defenders for a full-time investigator to meet another state standard, Holmes wrote.
To qualify for a court-appointed attorney, a defendant must either be on some type of public assistance or have an annual income of 125 percent or less of the current federally established poverty level.
Post-conviction, defendants are typically ordered to pay an indigent defense recovery fee of $150.
