Airway Heights court hires a third public defender

The city of Airway Heights will be hiring its second public defender this year and its third overall due to increased population growth and increased activity in the courts, according to city officials.

The City Council approved the hiring of a third public defender at their Aug. 20 meeting. Airway Heights hired a second public defender at the beginning of this year. Public defenders are attorneys provided to those in the court system that are unable to afford their own defense.

“In part, there’s an increased need because of community growth,” said City Manager Albert Tripp.

The decision to hire another public defender was also influenced by a state rule that dictates the workload public defenders may take on to ensure each one has adequate time and resources to manage their caseload.

The city is trying to be proactive and prevent their current employees from doing too much and tackle an overwhelming volume of cases. The new public defender will be responsible for about 300 cases per year.

“We do not want a situation in which they’re bumping up against that state-sanctioned case load number, because we know that would result in lowering the quality of representation,” Tripp said.

Airway Heights currently contracts for indigent public defense services with Patrick Donahue and Grecco Downs.

The city recently received a two-year, $40,000 grant to allow it to hire an additional public defender. The grant funds provide about $20,000 per year for 2018 and 2019. The city also received a one-time $4,500 grant for 2018.

According to council documents, the city is expecting to have a surplus of $15,000 for public defense revenue in 2018. Staff has requested the permission of the funding agency to reserve the $15,000 savings for 2019 and use to offset the $4,500 delta.

According to a City Council report, the budgeted revenue plus the grant resources should fully support the addition of a third public defender and increase defense services to indigent defendants.

Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].