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Whatcom committee reviews Trueblood decision, hears exec office grant denial and next steps
Summary
Civil legal counsel Christopher Quinn summarized the Trueblood class-action implications for competency evaluations and restoration services; committee members discussed a denied Trueblood-related grant application and asked the executive's office to provide more detail so the county can consider reapplying.
Christopher Quinn, civil legal counsel for the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office, told the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force’s Legal & Justice Systems Committee on May 13 that the Trueblood litigation required Washington to speed competency evaluations and restoration services for defendants with serious mental illness.
“The True Blood decision is a landmark class action lawsuit in the state of Washington,” Quinn said, explaining that the case — filed in February 2014 against the state Department of Social and Health Services — challenged delays in competency evaluations and restoration care that left people detained in jail for extended periods and at risk of constitutional harms.
The committee moved from legal context to local funding: members said the county’s application for a round of Trueblood-related funds from the state was denied. Committee members…
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