Tara Koch plea hearing rescheduled due to lack of attorney
Pictured: Tara Koch Photo from Zoominfo.com
by Cole Goodwin
No plea occurred at the Tara Koch plea hearing proceedings which took place today, August 22nd, 2022, at 9:58 a.m. due to a lack of an available public defender.
Koch, the former Executive Director of Haven from Domestic and Sexual Violence appeared via an internet public Webex hearing on charges of theft, identity theft and forger.
Koch has been accused of 26 charges related to the theft of more than $96,000 from Haven from Domestic and Sexual Violence, a non-profit organization that offers support and advocacy for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking in Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam and Wheeler Counties.
A still from the Monday morning criminal docket via Webex. Tara Koch did not appear on video at the hearing.
Judge Karen Ostrye oversaw the plea hearing proceedings.
Matt Ellis Wasco County District Attorney stood in as prosecutor for Elijah McCallowski who has taken over prosecution of the case for the Oregon State Department of Justice.
At the hearing Judge Ostrye let Koch know that the Court was having difficulty obtaining a court-appointed attorney for her.
“We are working pretty hard to do that for you but we don’t have one yet,” said Ostrye.
Legal counsel is a right guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Persons who are charged with a crime and cannot afford to hire private legal counsel and are at risk of losing their liberty if convicted may request the court appoint an attorney at the state’s expense.
Koch’s plea hearing was then rescheduled for October 31st and 9:45 a.m.
Plea hearings are court proceedings in which defendants respond to the criminal charges brought against them by pleading guilty, not guilty or no contest. A plea of no contest is a plea in which the defendant accepts conviction but does not admit guilt. If the defendant pleads guilty or no contest the defendant can receive sentencing without a need to go to trial. If the defendant pleads not guilty then the case will go to trial.
Has the Oregon Public Defender shortage reached Wasco County?
At this time it is unclear why the court is having difficulty in finding Koch legal counsel. However, courthouse officials did confirm that they have contacted the Oregon Public Defense Service (OPDS), about Koch’s need for counsel. The OPDS seeks to ensure that eligible individuals have timely access to legal services, consistent with Oregon and national standards of justice.
Whether Koch will receive a court appointed attorney will depend on eligibility and availability of an attorney who does not have a conflict of interest in the case.
It’s worth noting that the Oregon Department of Justice has been reporting staffing and caseload challenges since 2021 and that these challenges have had an impact on defendants who have a constitutional right to counsel.
Just last week in a widely expected move, the commission overseeing Oregon’s flagging public defense system voted to fire Steve Singer, executive director of the Office of Public Defense Services on Thursday, in a 6-2 vote with one member absent, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Singer has led the Office of Public Defense Services for nearly eight months, winning fans among public defenders. But his confrontational style has grated on commissioners, employees and Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters.
OPB reported that Singer’s removal settles one issue that had provided distraction from the state’s mounting public defense crisis. But it creates new questions, such as who will take over the agency in his stead, and whether that person will prove more successful at navigating the three branches of government now intensely focused on the issue.
Multnomah, Marion, Washington, and Lane Counties have been the most impacted by the issue.
In January of 2021, The American Bar Association released a report analyzing the Orgon Public Defense System and Attorney Workload standards.
The reports stated that “At current caseloads, OPDS simply is unable to adequately represent individuals in adult criminal and juvenile cases.”
The report further went on to state that the State of Oregon was 69% deficient of attorneys it needed to represent Oregonians who need court-appointed attorneys due to a lack of means to pay for a lawyer on their own.
The report suggested that the state needed to add 1,296 public defenders to address the shortage.
In Febraury of 2022, legislative leaders allocated $12.8 million to OPDS to increase hiring of criminal defense attorneys to address the growing number of criminal defendants without legal counsel.
In March of 2022, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said in an opinion piece published in the Oregonian that said that case counts had increased by as much as 300% and that the justice system was “nearing the point of breakage.”
In April of 2022, Chief Oregon Supreme Court Justice Martha L. Walters sent a letter to Oregon Governor Kate Brown, House Speaker Dan Rayfield, and Senate President Peter Courtney concerning a need to address both the immediate crisis and develop long-lasting solutions at the Three Branch Summit.
Following the letter, a press release announced leaders from Oregon’s legislative, executive, and judicial branches will convene a workgroup to develop short and long-term solutions to reform the state’s public defense and public safety systems.
“I am grateful for the three-branch commitment to find long-lasting solutions to the longstanding challenges faced by our criminal justice system and those who work in and are served by it,” Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters said. “With the necessary urgency and a concerted, sustained effort, I know that we can strengthen that system and make it more just.”
In May of 2022 CCCNews asked judicial candidates to comment on whether the shortage was impacting Wasco County. Both candidates who responded to the request said that Wasco County had not experienced the same impact as Multnomah, Marion, Washington, and Lane Counties.
At that time Judge John A. Wolf said to CCCNews, “Fortunately, we have not seen the same issues that have been seen in other places in the state because we have been able to keep our courts operating through COVID. So, we don't have a backlog of cases, where other courts had a much more difficult time.
We have seen some difficulties in complex juvenile dependency cases as a result of just needing more attorneys than we have available and ultimately needing to reach beyond our usual pool of attorneys, but that has mostly resulted in delays in getting counsel appointed, not in any kind of dismissal.
That said; it is critical and constitutionally required for people to have access to defense counsel when they are facing criminal charges, and we need to work to ensure they are able to work around the state, not just in our district.”
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RELATED READING: For an overview of the Tara Koch case so far click here.
