Fierce Connections
Fullfilling the mission of advocacy for all.
The Snohomish County Public Defender Association ( SCPDA) is a private, non-profit law office, incorporated under the laws of the State of Washington. SCPDA provides defense services to persons facing a loss of liberty under criminal and civil laws. These services include:
- Adults and juveniles charged with felonies and misdemeanors
- Adults facing civil commitment pursuant to RCW 71.05 and RCW 71.09
- Adults appealing misdemeanor convictions to Superior Court
- Adults and juveniles facing incarceration in contempt proceedings
History
The United States recognized the right to an attorney in criminal cases in the landmark Gideon v. Wainwright decision in 1963. In Snohomish county, this right to representation was initially fulfilled by individual lawyers from the bench. Over time, it became clear that public defense needed to be in the hands of specialists. 10 years later, Snohomish County decided to appoint a board of directors to form a non-profit corporation.
This was how, in 1973, the Snohomish County Public Defender Association (SCPDA) was formed with five lawyers at its helm. Since then, SCPDA has had 9 Directors, hundreds of employees and has grown into an office that now employs over 140 defenders to fulfill Gideon’s premise that “ ….reason and reflection require us to recognize that in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him. This seems to us to be an obvious truth.” Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 344, 83 S. Ct. 792, 796, 9 L. Ed. 2d 799 (1963).
Independence
SCPDA is primarily funded from indigent defense contracts with Snohomish County, Skagit County, Tulalip Cares, other counties and municipalities and the State of Washington. The goal of the Association is to provide the highest quality of legal representation to its clients.
