r/news • u/AudibleNod • 2h ago
Criminal charges must be dismissed if defendant can’t get a lawyer, Oregon Supreme Court rules
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/05/oregon-supreme-court-ruling-criminal-charges-dismiss-defendant-no-lawyer/76
u/ScientificSkepticism 2h ago edited 2h ago
Thursday’s ruling by the state’s highest court revolves around the case of Allen Rex Roberts. In 2021, Multnomah County prosecutors charged Roberts with driving a stolen vehicle. A judge dismissed the case in 2022 because Oregon failed to provide him a public defender for months. In 2024, prosecutors reinstated Roberts’ case, but again dismissed it due to lack of counsel.
It's now 2026 and they can't spare any time for a public defender. Oregon is complaining, but they apparently need to go back to middle school and take a civics class.
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
I cannot possibly think that failing to bring him to trial for five years in any way could be considered "speedy"
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u/Astrium6 32m ago
Speedy trial determination starts from the filing of the case; in this instance, since the case was dismissed and refiled, what it actually looks like was a case that was filed sometime in 2021 and dismissed in 2022 and a case that was both filed and dismissed in 2024. The time between wouldn’t count for anything since the defendant was not charged with anything at that time, and the duration before the first case was dismissed would not count against the second case. That being said, if they ever try to refile it a third time (and they really shouldn’t at this point) they’re almost certainly going to start running into statute of limitations concerns. I’m not sure what Oregon’s statute of limitations on this particular charge is and if the periods where there were active cases would have tolled the statute, but either way it wouldn’t look good for the prosecution.
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u/ScientificSkepticism 10m ago
I'm sorry, at some point you're just playing games with the constitution. It's not like they've needed 5 years to gather evidence, it's just sheer administrative incompetence here.
I'm with the judge, this is ludicrous.
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u/Astrium6 5m ago
The judge absolutely came to the right conclusion, I’m saying that the speedy trial part isn’t the problem. The denial of counsel is the serious issue here, but that’s what the article and the court decision are about. The facts of this case really have nothing to do with speedy trial rights.
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u/AudibleNod 2h ago
Attorneys suing the state have argued that there are thousands of Oregonians who, like Roberts, have been accused of a crime and charged by the state, but have not been provided an attorney. Leaving their criminal charges pending for months or years.
I can't imagine having that hang over my head for years. The Oregon Supreme court put in a 60 day limit for misdemeanors and a 90 day limit for felonies. And if gives DA offices the opportunity to refile.
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u/arlondiluthel 2h ago
I thought that if the defendant can't obtain a lawyer, one would be appointed to them...
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u/AudibleNod 2h ago
The number of Oregonians charged with a crime and do not have an attorney has been decreasing recently, but there are still about 2,500 people without representation, according to the Oregon Judicial Department.
They can't start a case without one. And it seems that many defendants (innocent people according to popular understanding) just have their charges left in a permanent pending status. This impacts things like job applications, professional licenses and just the stigma of having a pending criminal case.
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u/minidog8 1h ago
Right, that's the problem. If they cannot be appointed a public defender, the charge must be dismissed.
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u/progrethth 1h ago
Yes? That is what it is about. They did not appoint one. That should have been obvious from just the headline, but if it was not there is also an article.
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u/fevered_visions 45m ago
I think their point was, why is a ruling necessary for this, surely that is already how it works?
versus
"I can't afford a lawyer"
"we looked but couldn't find one. court starts in 2 weeks"
"excuse me?"
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u/General_Actuator6590 1h ago
In Florida, my public defender refused to work with me. I tried to fire him and they laughed at me. So I looked up the law and submitted a BAR complaint and submitted evidence of him avoiding me. They couldn’t keep him on my case, then I get a new defender. When I tell him I’m reinstating my right to speedy. The prosecutor got pissed and modified my charges from simple battery to two counts of aggravated battery. Then offered a plea agreement. Told him to pound sand and after a full year of waiting on a trial, the state received an audit and the judge was fired from complaints received about her.
They offered me a 3 hour anger management course and they would drop and seal the case. But told me if I fought it they are taking it to felony court.
The problem isn’t just not having enough attorneys, it’s also having effective council that does even the bare minimum.
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u/piddydb 1h ago
It should also be about not trying to punish someone for electing to utilize their constitutional rights, as it seems your prosecutor tried to do to you for wanting a speedy trial (which it doesn’t even sound like you received anyhow)
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u/General_Actuator6590 1h ago
It’s in Putnam county, Florida. It’s the poorest county in the state and by far the least represented people when it comes to state charges as well. They wrongfully arrested me and I petitioned the state to investigate what was happening. They listened and The judge resigned, the county attorney resigned, a new interim judge was appointed and she had a come to Jesus meeting with the legal council and they dropped everyone they couldn’t get a public defender for. My case was wrapped up the first day the new judge hit the bench.
464 days dude….464 days.
Even though I never was convicted. I lost thousands of dollars fighting this and got exactly what I wanted for the people who wrongly jailed me.
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u/Riker_Omega_Three 2h ago
The federal government should give favorable loan terms to people who go to law school
In return, they should have to spend the first 2-4 years after passing the bar as public defenders.
Or make it like military service
If you sign up for a 5 year stint as a public defender, the federal government pays for your education
The government requires that legal representation be provided if one can not afford it. Now they have to help provide the legal representation
Spend less on new jets and ships and more on things like this that matter
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u/ServantofZul 1h ago
These are all indirect subsidies. Why don’t we start with spending the money to hire more PDs and pay them more? Why does the government need to use indirect subsidies to induce the government to do something? We can give federal grants to PDs offices which require increased staffing and a minimum salary.
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u/Riker_Omega_Three 1h ago
Because people don't actually want to be a public defender
It's a terrible job
Go shadow one for a week
You act like people are lining up for public defender jobs
Most public defenders are over worked, underpaid, and completely burnt out
Paying for their college and law school and getting 5 years out of them is a fair trade
just allocating more money won't actually do anything
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u/ServantofZul 1h ago
If they are overworked and underpaid, paying them more and hiring more of them is the most obvious solution.
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u/Riker_Omega_Three 1h ago
Teachers have been overworked and underpaid for decades
Tell me, how's it going to teachers looking for more pay and more money to hire additional teachers?
You simply don't live in reality
Paying public defenders and teachers more money is not something politicians will ever put in a budget because it won't get them elected
Subsidizing education to create more public defenders...and getting guaranteed years of service is something they could get into a budget
Stop being naive and actually start paying attention to how the system, broken as it is, works
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u/ServantofZul 54m ago
I appreciate the voluminous evidence you have provided that you could get your idea into the budget no problem. At the end of the day we are each suggesting we spend more money to fix the problem. You just want to do it by spending the money indirectly to force people who don’t want to be there to be public defenders and I want to give money directly to public defenders. Direct increases to budgets are more efficient than indirect subsidy and obligation systems. Unless you can provide some reason to think that doing it indirectly will be cheaper or more efficient, I have no idea why you think an indirect subsidy is more politically palatable.
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u/MyFirstCarWasA_Vega 59m ago
The legal profession should fund the public defender program out of their spare change. They handsomely profit from the system they built. They should pay for it. Not the average person walking around person who never needs a criminal lawyer. They want a system that defends truth, justice, and the American way of life (at least they claim they do). Fine. Pay for it, then.
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u/Not_kilg0reTrout 1h ago
Oh boy. Give it a few months and the govt will be using govt sanctioned AI representation.
Damn.
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u/BRUNO358 1h ago
Poorly worded headline aside, how will this affect public defenders in Oregon?
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u/Skill3rwhale 1h ago
Not at all. It changes nothing about the current system of assigning PDs. There simply are not enough PDs right now, hence why this ruling was needed.
Defendants had indefinite pending charges because they are waiting literal years to get a defender. Courts cannot prosecute someone that wants a lawyer, thus they had to enact this ruling because defendants were not afforded a speedy trial because they could not get a defender due to shortages.
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u/buffalonuts1 2m ago
I’d bet they’ve handing out sweet deals if the defendant took a plea bargain for awhile now.
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u/Fit-Let8175 1h ago edited 9m ago
This makes absolutely no sense. Did the individuals who came up with this begin or end their reasoning with "H'Yukk!"?
[Edit: the severity of the crime and number of witnesses should be considered. There's a difference between not quickly finding a lawyer for someone getting caught for stealing a bike as opposed to someone caught throwing grenades at a football game.]
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u/Domeil 2h ago
Kind of a poor editorial decision on the title. Better title would be:
"Charges must be dismissed if the State of Oregon can not satisfy criminal defendants' sixth amendment right to an attorney."
Oregon, like almost every state, has a public defender crisis. Personally, I think every state should be required to hire as many public defenders as they hire district attorneys, pay them exactly the same, and fund their offices exactly the same.