Yakima County public defender details staffing shortfalls, budget pressure and intern pipeline

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 told commissioners that the shortfall has required the office to prioritize in-custody defendants over others because of liberty interests, and that the county's ability to respond to courts depends directly on the number of lawyers on staff. He warned that reduced panel and expert budgets and uncertainty around forthcoming caseload standards from the Washington Supreme Court complicate planning.

Kelly detailed several concrete pressures facing the office: reduced panel funding (he said the county is about $170,000 under last year's levels for panel resources), slow recruitment of qualified contractors, the specialized hiring gap in involuntary-treatment-attorney (ITA) positions, and a separate shortfall in the expert budget used for forensic experts and investigators. "The expert budget was reduced a bit," Kelly said, adding that decisions about that fund must be made separately from operations because of ethical considerations.

At the same time, Kelly described a successful summer internship and recruitment program that has helped the office hire entry-level attorneys with local ties. He said the office will host four interns this summer (including 1 Rule 9/2L and several 1Ls) and has already hired two former interns to join the office after they pass the bar. He said Office of Public Defense (OPD) fellowship and internship funding has helped: "OPD is going to foot the bill" for at least one intern, he said.

Kelly also described operational issues including an unsatisfactory rollout of new case-management software and the need to maintain conflict-check and client confidentiality features that differ from prosecutor systems.

On state policy and funding, Kelly summarized long-standing structural problems in Washington's indigent-defense funding. He cited a 1990 task-force report that recommended state funding of at least 50% of indigent defense costs and noted that legislation to amplify public defense funding (reference to a 2025 proposal) failed to pass. Kelly said the office is following the Supreme Court's review of caseload standards and remains uncertain how a final decision will change staffing needs: "I'm frustrated by the fact that they haven't done anything yet."

Commissioner reaction and next steps: Commissioners thanked Kelly and noted some positive signs, including recent pay-plan increases and the internship pipeline. Kelly said he will return to the board if midyear funding needs arise for panels or experts, and commissioners signaled they expect the office to continue using reserves as needed in the short term while seeking long-term funding solutions.

There were no formal board votes connected to Kelly's presentation during the work session.

Ending: The board did not adopt new policy at the meeting; Kelly's presentation was accepted for information and commissioners asked staff to monitor staffing, contractor rates and the Supreme Court's caseload decision as those items evolve.