Thurston County officials still burdened by Blake decision, seek more resources
Thurston County will be reimbursed for costs associated with the State v. Blake decision under an agreement with a state office, but county officials say it won’t be enough.
The Board of County Commissioners approved an interagency agreement with the Washington State Administrative Offices of the Courts during an Oct. 19 meeting. The agreement will help the county deal with the wide-ranging effects of the Supreme Court decision that declared the state’s felony drug possession statute unconstitutional.
Under this agreement the county will be reimbursed nearly $2.8 million for the costs of resentencing and vacating sentences, said Assistant County Manager Robin Campbell. Additionally, she said the county would receive $901,472 for payments to reimburse legal financial obligations (LFOs).
“This is not the entire amount that the county thinks these actions will cost us, but it is what the state of Washington appropriated for counties,” Campbell said during the meeting.
By the end of the year, the county will likely have spent around $900,000 to administer cases and refund LFOs, Campbell told The Olympian. Over the next two years, she estimates the county will need more than $3 million to process cases and about $6.5 million for LFOs.
These numbers are based on estimates shared by the county’s Superior Court, District Court, Clerk’s Office, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Office of Public Defense, Campbell said.
So far, she said the state has appropriated about $4.3 million for Thurston County. This includes the amounts from the interagency agreement, she said, and $589,000 for the county’s public defense office that came through the state Office of Public Defense.
“In all fairness to these agencies, this is the amount that the legislature appropriated to them,” Campbell said. “So, our hope is that the legislature will appropriate additional money for counties so that counties do not have to cover this cost out of our general funds.”
Thurston County’s general fund appropriation usually runs about $100 million each year, Campbell said. Even with this amount, she said the county could not easily absorb the costs associated with the Blake decision.
“If we had to absorb about $5 million, that’s about 5% of our general fund budget in a given year,” Campbell said. “That would impact our ability to deliver services to the citizens of Thurston County.”
On Feb. 25, the Washington State Supreme Court struck down the state’s simple drug possession law, known as unlawful possession of a controlled substance, because it criminalized passive, unknowing conduct. Since that decision, the state passed Senate Bill 5476 which downgrades simple possession to a gross misdemeanor.
Progress on Blake cases
County officials have seen work on Blake cases accelerate over the past couple of months, but it still may take multiple years for them to finish processing cases.
Once the Supreme Court issued its decision, three people with simple-drug possession charges were immediately released from Thurston County jail, said Christy Peters, chief of staff at the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
Twenty other people with simple-drug possession charges who were out of custody with conditions had their cases dismissed by the end of February, she said.
The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office also quickly returned 150 referrals to law enforcement. These are cases prosecutors review to decide whether there is enough evidence to issue charges.
Six weeks after the decision, Peters said over 300 outstanding warrants were quashed. These cases involved people who were charged with simple-drug possession and no other charges.
Patrick O’Connor, the director of the Office of Public Defense, said work on processing Blake cases was slow at first as offices and departments scrambled to develop a smooth process and gather more resources.
“We really weren’t as responsive to this as we would have liked early on, but that was just due to staffing levels and resources,” O’Connor said.
As funding came in, additional staff were added to public defense, the prosecuting attorney’s office, the clerk’s office and the courts starting in late summer, Campbell said.
For its part, public defense hired two attorneys and a legal assistant to process Blake cases, O’Connor said. These positions are funded for two years, he added.
“Just solely dedicating their time to Blake releases really helped accelerate relief for a lot of clients,” O’Connor said.
Similarly, Peters said her office hired two attorneys, one legal assistant and a victim’s advocate to focus on processing Blake cases.
In recent months, staff have been focused on helping incarcerated individuals that need to be resentenced, people still under community supervision and people that still need to get prior convictions vacated.
A recent estimate from the Clerk’s Office indicates more than 3,903 cases still need resentencing, Peters said. However, she cautioned that number may be lower than the actual amount.
Superior Court has been hearing up to seven resentencing cases a week, Peters said, and 37 have been completed so far. Peters said her office and public defense have been prioritizing cases in order of release date.
Additionally, she said 466 cases have been vacated since the decision came down. That means the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has worked on resentencing or vacating 503 cases.
Of that total, she said 167 cases were processed in the month of October alone.
At the current pace, Peters estimated it will take at least two years, likely more, to process the remaining cases that require resentencing.
As of Friday, O’Connor said his office has resolved or currently represents over 800 criminal case numbers. These are filings for cases, he said, so clients may have more than one filing from different cases.
Beyond the next two years, O’Connor said he believes his office will need more funding to continue helping community members that cannot afford an attorney. He called the situation “unprecedented.”
“Everyone who has ever been convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance in Thurston County is entitled to have that conviction vacated,” O’Connor said. “Those are thousands of people.”
In addition to helping vacate sentences, he said public defense helps clients secure reimbursements for the legal financial obligations they previously paid.
Anyone with a prior conviction that needs the assistance of the Office of Public Defense can email tcpd_blake@co.thurston.wa.us or call 360-754-4897.
