Lincoln County district attorney briefs Depoe Bay council on caseloads, treatment courts and new deflection program

Jenna Wallace, Lincoln County District Attorney, told the Depoe Bay City Council on Jan. 20, 2025, that her office has cleared a backlog of cases, is running several specialty treatment courts and has launched a newly staffed deflection program aimed at steering people with substance-use disorders into treatment rather than prosecution.

Wallace said she was appointed by the governor in mid-2024 and has a staff of about 33 people, including roughly 10 deputy district attorneys and crime victim advocates. She told the council the office prosecutes cases for multiple municipal police departments and the sheriff, and presents felony charges to the grand jury twice weekly.

Wallace said criminal filings rose sharply in 2022 to about 1,904 cases, a spike she attributed to addressing a pending backlog the office inherited, and that filings in the most recent year were slightly higher than in 2023. She identified property crimes (approximately 600 filings), alcohol- and drug-related offenses (about 450), assaults (roughly 320, including some domestic-violence cases), juvenile cases (about 50) and three homicides in the last year. She also reported about 36 child-sex-crime filings and 16 adult-sex-crime filings.

The DA described four active treatment courts: drug court (about 28 active participants, three openings), Hope Court (13 active participants, eight openings), a family support court and a mental health and wellness court. She said the courts are intended to provide treatment and supervision as alternatives to prison terms when appropriate.

Wallace also described other programs: a multidisciplinary response for child and elder-abuse cases, a human-trafficking task force, a competency court for defendants unfit to stand trial and the office27s role in officer-involved-shooting reviews, crash investigations and civil-commitment proceedings (18 last year).

On victim services, Wallace said the office27s victim-advocate unit provided more than 28,000 contacts and served a little more than 2,000 individual crime victims in 2024, offering trauma-informed support and assistance with restitution requests. She said the office27s child-support unit manages roughly 600 cases and last year collected about $1.6 million in past-due child support, which she said is directed back to children in the county.

On the deflection program, Wallace said the state recriminalized possession of small amounts of controlled substances in September 2024 and implemented a statewide deflection option; Lincoln County elected to participate. She said the county hired a deflection coordinator who started Dec. 31 and that the coordinator is reviewing daily custody lists to identify candidates and contacting treatment providers to arrange immediate engagement. Wallace said the program has begun but that police contacts eligible for deflection have been limited to date; the coordinator is also working proactively to identify candidates for treatment engagement.

Council members asked clarification questions about program mechanics, the difference between drug court and Hope Court, and how deflection referrals are handled. Wallace said Hope Court and drug court are similar, often share a judge, and both use the prospect of a suspended prison term to encourage participation in treatment; she described Hope Court as typically involving an explicit downward-disposition departure.

Wallace closed by inviting further questions and said she plans to continue outreach to city councils across Lincoln County to explain office services and priorities.

Ending: Wallace provided contact information and offered to return for further discussion about local priorities and interagency coordination.