Recent resignations in Bethel and Nome have left the state Public Defender Agency without enough experienced attorneys to handle new complicated cases, according to its director.
A state agency that represents Alaskans who cannot afford their own attorneys intends this month to stop taking clients facing serious felony charges in parts of southwest and western Alaska due to staffing shortages.
Cherot said the agency has long struggled to recruit and retain qualified attorneys, challenges worsened by a pandemic-fueled backlog in criminal cases. Recent resignations in Bethel and Nome have left the agency without enough experienced attorneys to handle new complicated cases, she said. The agency has identified two private lawyers who may be willing to represent individuals charged in the Nome Superior Court but no additional private lawyers for Bethel cases.
The Legislature never intended for this office “to be the front line defense agency for the state. We are not staffed, funded, or structured to be,” Stinson wrote in an email.
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