PORTLAND, Oregon – Today, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt released a list of cases impacted by the public defense crisis. The data set includes cases dismissed by judges and the number of cases set over to a future date due to a lack of defense counsel.
In November, DA Mike Schmidt called the public defense crisis, defined by a lack of public defenders to provide counsel to defendants, an urgent threat to public safety. Individuals suspected of a crime have the constitutional right to defense counsel. Victims have a right to justice. Absent counsel, criminal prosecutions cannot lawfully move forward and issued cases are routinely dismissed over prosecutor’s objections.
DA Schmidt also declared that his office would publish cases impacted by the crisis each week to advance the public’s understanding of the scope of the crisis. Here is a breakdown of the types of felonies getting dismissed.
There were 67 cases set over between 12/16 and 12/29. There were five cases dismissed in the same date range.
Dismissed cases 12/16 – 12/29:
21CR51693
22CR17875
22CR48210
22CR48451
22CR19794
#MCDA#