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Public defender office faces staffing gap; county approves short‑term authority to raise contract lawyer rates to avoid case delays
Summary
Mason County’s public defender office told commissioners it has no in‑house felony attorneys and roughly 100 unassigned felony cases, and commissioners granted temporary authority to increase contract defense rates to avoid case delays.
Mason County’s public defender office reported an urgent shortage of in‑house felony attorneys and asked commissioners for temporary authority to increase contract attorney rates to attract outside counsel while recruiting.
Staff said the office lost its chief public defender and is contracting felony work; at the time of the briefing roughly 100 felony cases were unassigned. The public defender described daily preliminary hearings that require counsel…
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