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Yakima County public defender details staffing shortfalls, budget pressure and intern pipeline
Summary
Assigned counsel Paul Kelly told the Yakima County commissioners the public defense office is understaffed, the expert and panel budgets are reduced, and recruiting remains difficult despite a successful internship program and recent pay-plan changes.
Paul Kelly, assigned counsel to Yakima County, told the Board of County Commissioners on March 24 that the county's public defense office is operating below the number of attorneys it needs to meet felony caseloads and is coping with cuts to panel and expert budgets.
Kelly said the office has 20 budgeted in-house attorney positions but "current staff attorney staff level is at 16," and that the office has relied on contractors and internal reassignment to cover duties such as preliminary appearances. "We're spreading the duties of that preliminary appearance docket with the 4 district court lawyers," Kelly said.
The staffing shortfall has affected the office's ability to meet felony demand. Kelly said forecasting suggests the county needs roughly 17.8 full-time equivalent attorneys to handle felony workload in normal years, but retirements and recruitment limits leave the office short. "If we had fully budgeted staff, we'd be at 20," he said.
Why it matters: Kelly…
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