Resignations Worry Judges, Inmates Three Of 7 Public Defenders Leaving, Meaning Case Backlog Likely To Grow

Kootenai County public defenders face a double whammy - or maybe it’s a triple.

First, the office’s chief defender announced his resignation in May. Then two deputy public defenders handed in their resignations last week.

That means almost half the office’s seven attorneys are leaving - at a time when the defenders are especially swamped with cases.

The exodus has Kootenai County judges concerned about the effect on the court’s backlog and some inmates worried about their pending cases.

“What is already not a good situation is going to become worse,” said Judge Gary Haman.

After almost two years with the Kootenai County office, deputy public defender Brian Long is scheduled to leave by July 31.

“For me it’s just kind of a decision about my career,” Long said, explaining he’s been offered a job at a private law firm in Coeur d’Alene.

Deputy public defender Andrew Mankowski will make his exit by Aug. 25.

Jonathan Hull, chief public defender, announced his resignation in May after the deaths of his wife and parents.

Although he will remain at the public defender’s office until the new chief arrives in September, he is not carrying a full caseload. He believes it would be unfair to future clients to start cases he cannot finish. He also admits the death of his wife has had a huge impact on him.

“You don’t want to be wondering if you’re doing your best work because you’re dealing with a person’s most basic rights,” he said.

With those three resignations, the office will have lost six attorneys since 1993, said Cathy Malzahn, manager of the Kootenai County human resources department.

Judge Eugene Marano, who was a Kootenai County public defender in the late ‘70s, said burnout has a lot to do with such turnover.

“It’s probably the most thankless job you’ll have and probably the one you will work the hardest at,” he said.

The public defenders regularly work weekends and early mornings without overtime pay. The pay scale in Kootenai County ranges from $29,182 a year for the low-end staff attorneys to $55,806 for a highly experienced chief defender.

“For the number of hours they put in, they’re poorly paid,” Marano said. “The clerk at the 7-Eleven is probably making more.”

Both Marano and Haman are concerned the turnover will add to the backlog of cases in the already crammed court system.

A court trial must be scheduled within about six months of when a criminal charge is filed, in order to comply with the accused’s right to a speedy trial. The accused can waive that right.

Already, almost 600 magistrate court cases must be scheduled for trial in at least the next six months.

Malzahn hopes to have the two deputy defenders replaced within five weeks. But the new lawyers will be stepping into the middle of court cases they have never seen before.

They will need time to catch up. In some cases they may need trials to be postponed in order to properly represent their clients, Haman and Marano said.

But, “It’s a two-edged sword,” Marano points out. The cases can’t be postponed if the six month “speedy trial” limit is up unless the accused criminal agrees to it.

If the accused refuses to have his trial postponed, he can later appeal, claiming he didn’t have adequate representation from the unprepared defender.

If the trial is postponed, then that’s just more backlog in the court system. Daniel Buckley is one defendant who will have to adjust to a new public defender.

It won’t be the first time.

Hull was his first public defender. When Hull announced his resignation, he dropped Buckley’s case just weeks before his trial for attempted murder in the shooting of a friend.

Buckley believes he acted in self-defense.

Long stepped in and Buckley agreed to have his trial postponed so Long could become familiar with the case.

Buckley’s new trial is scheduled for next month, just weeks after Long is to leave.

“I don’t want to have to postpone it again,” Buckley said during a telephone interview from the jail, where he has been since December. “Now I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

It will be up to those who remain behind in the office to shoulder the burden.

“What will happen is what we’ve done in the past. We’ll double up,” said Joel Ryan, the chief deputy public defender and one of the few who will remain behind. “I don’t know how we do it but we do it.”

Applications for the chief public defender’s position will be accepted through Friday. Seven people already have applied.

“No one goes into this type of work with the idea of getting rich,” Ryan said. “You are either a dedicated lawyer or you don’t work in this office.”

, DataTimes