The three judges on the Clatsop County Circuit Court gathered on the afternoon of Jan. 18 in ornate Courtroom 300 in Astoria to deliver the inaugural State of the Court address.

Presiding Judge Beau Peterson, Judge Dawn McIntosh and Judge Kirk Wintermute shared their outlook on a range of topics, from the state’s public defender crisis, the challenge of defendants who are unable to aid and assist in their cases and a surge in the number of people seeking to have their criminal records set aside.

The judges also previewed a new veterans treatment court and a landlord-tenant mediation program in response to pandemic-era evictions.

Clatsop County was plunged into the public defender crisis following the abrupt departure of a defense attorney over the summer.

The county has prioritized providing attorneys for people in custody, but dozens of others lack legal representation while the state responds to the problem and federal courts weigh whether to enforce time limits on how long people can remain in county jails without counsel.

“We now have in Clatsop County 80 people who are charged with crimes, who are entitled to be represented by lawyers, that qualified for court-appointed lawyers, that are vulnerable citizens who needed an attorney, and they currently have no attorney,” McIntosh said.

“It is a crisis that is looming and it is not likely to get better anytime soon, at least from what I’ve seen. I held hearings this morning at 10:30, where I had to tell about 20 people, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have a lawyer for you, we’ll set this over for another 60 days.’”

Federal courts have long been critical of how Oregon deals with defendants who are unable to aid and assist with their cases because of mental health issues. Defendants are often referred to the Oregon State Hospital for treatment. Federal judges have set time limits to prevent defendants from languishing in jail while awaiting treatment.

“Through 2019, 2020, that docket averaged about eight defendants at any given time,” Peterson said of the situation in Clatsop County. “That has increased pretty sharply over the years. We now have 20, 21 defendants on the agency’s caseload.”

Peterson indicated that the county has made progress in reducing wait times for treatment.

“We were averaging 20 to 30 days where someone was sitting in jail not getting treatment before they got to the hospital,” he said. “And I think that is roughly down to seven, which was the goal.”

In 2021, the state Legislature agreed to expand the ability of people to go to court and set aside certain arrests and convictions. The changes are intended to help people expunge their records so they might more easily qualify for jobs, housing or other opportunities.

“It’ll be easier to get rid of the criminal records, simplify filing, waive fees, several different things so they can kind of make it easier on folks to get their record clear, because it really was not easy to do,” Wintermute said.

Wintermute said the Circuit Court had seen a sharp increase in set-asides, from an average of 20 a year to 168 in 2023.

Wintermute also announced that the Circuit Court would launch a new veterans treatment court to help better serve the county’s large population of military veterans. The court will be similar to specialty courts on drug treatment, mental health and family treatment.

Within the next several months, the Circuit Court also expects to roll out a landlord-tenant mediation program to help sort through eviction cases. Courts anticipated a wave of eviction cases after pandemic-related eviction moratorium and rental assistance protections expired.

Peterson said AJ Wahl, an attorney who also fills in as a Circuit Court judge, secured a grant for the mediation program.

“We’re really excited about that, because it really should help resolve a number of landlord-tenant cases without additional docket time needed, without trials needed, and hopefully with better outcomes that are acceptable for both parties,” Peterson said.