[Washington] Wilbur v. Mount Vernon – U.S. Statement of Interest 

On August 14, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a Statement of Interest in a federal lawsuit challenging deprivations of the right to counsel on misdemeanor cases in two cities in Washington.

In calling for an independent monitor, the DOJ asserted, “First, a public defender must have the authority to decline appointments over the caseload limit. Second, caseload limits are no replacement for a careful analysis of a public defender’s workload, a concept that takes into account all of the factors affecting a public defender’s ability to adequately represent clients, such as the complexity of cases on a defender’s docket, the defender’s skill and experience, the support services available to the defender, and the defender’s other duties. asking an accurate assessment of a defender’s workload requires observation, record collection and analysis, interviews with defenders and their supervisors, and so on, all of which must be performed quarterly or every six months over the course of several years to ensure that the Court’s remedies are being properly implemented.”