Shoshone County eyes new public defense office

WALLACE — The Shoshone County commissioners may establish an Institutional Public Defense Office in Shoshone County.  

In October, Idaho moved to a new, state-funded public defense system designed to combat 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.

Eric Fredericksen with the Idaho State Public Defenders Office told commissioners the proposed office would house four attorneys. 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.

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

In Benewah County, the proposed office would house just one attorney compared to the four 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, Fredericksen said, boiled down to money. 

For example, a position in Ada County that pays $169,000 annually only pays about $90,000 in Bannock County. To combat this, the public defender’s office adjusted salaries. According to recent statistics 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, about 1,500 attorneys withdrew from cases after the new system went into effect. This mass exodus exacerbated several 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.

“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 earmarked money to cover expenses associated with public defense that weren’t covered by the state.  

“Shoshone (County) has been high on our radar since Oct. 1, and before,” Fredericksen said. 

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