Shoshone County considering new public defense office

WALLACE –– Last week, the Shoshone County Commissioners met with Eric Fredericksen with the Idaho State Public Defenders Office to discuss establishing an Institutional Public Defense Office in Shoshone County.  

In October, Idaho moved to a new, state-funded public defense system that was designed to combat both alleged and proven shortcomings with the former county-funded system. These issues included inadequate public defense, case overload, and pay concerns. As part of this new system, the state is establishing Institutional Public Defense Offices across the state. 

According to Fredericksen, the proposed office would house four attorneys working for the recently established Idaho State Public Defenders Office, where their sole purpose would be to handle Shoshone County’s public defense caseload.  

While these offices are funded, staffed, and outfitted by the state, it is the county’s responsibility to provide the physical space for the office – which must be large enough to house the number of attorneys provided by the state and their administrative staff.  

Several counties throughout Idaho have agreed to establish these offices, with neighboring Benewah County being among the most recent, according to Fredericksen.  

The proposed number of attorneys working within each office is worth noting because that number is based on caseload. In Benewah County, the proposed Institutional Public Defense Office would house just one attorney compared to the four that were proposed for Shoshone, highlighting the significantly higher caseload between the two counties. 

“The biggest struggle we've had is some of the rural counties,” Fredericksen said. “It’s hard to pull people to the rural counties for public defense.” 

The struggles, as Fredericksen explained, boiled down to money. For example, a position in Ada County that pays $169,000 annually, only pays $85-90,000 in Bannock County. To combat this, the public defender’s office adjusted salaries statewide. According to recent stats from the Idaho Public Defenders Office, 77% of Idaho public defenders saw a salary increase, 15% of employees received pay cuts, and 7% of salaries did not change. 

However, the new system hasn’t been entirely well-received throughout the state. According to Fredericksen, approximately 1,500 attorneys withdrew from cases after the new system went into effect. This mass exodus exacerbated several of the main concerns the new system was designed to address.  

Commissioner Jeff Zimmerman highlighted a shortage of attorneys in Shoshone County, with the number steadily declining over the years. This has made finding representation a challenge for residents in all types of legal matters.  

“It’s a problem,” Zimmerman said. “I’m glad you guys have come up and seen that.” 

Both Commissioners Zimmerman and Dave Dose were warm to the idea of the institutional office, but Dose was frank about concerns he had over the requirement of providing a suitable space. 

“Space would be a challenge in this county,” Dose said. “We’ve even got offices here in town that we’ve had to rent for employees in the past. Two things we don’t have a lot of here are money and space.”  

The county did set aside some funds in its budget that were earmarked to cover expenses associated with public defense that weren’t covered by the state.  

“Shoshone (County) has been high on our radar since October 1, and before,” Fredericksen said. “I think Shoshone had some of the highest withdraws throughout the state for attorneys in cases.”   

Dose and Zimmerman agreed that they wanted to hold off for at least a week to give themselves the opportunity to dig into the county’s budget to make sure that resources were available if they decided to move forward with establishing the new office.