Public Defense

Paid by the case — a model that rewards volume over resolution.

○ Beat in progress — building out from the source

Record layer. Aggregate, primary-sourced. Officials and attorneys are named in their public roles; individual defendants are never named.

What we track

How indigent defense is paid — flat per-case fees, contracts, and hourly conflict work.
Total public-defense spending by the County and the City of Bellingham.
Caseloads per attorney against Washington caseload standards.
Outcomes by representation type — does who represents you change how the case ends?

By the numbers

$342,992

Paid to one conflict-counsel attorney (Lackie), 2021–2025

County payment ledgers

79%

Of the traced dollars went to defendants who cycled back after payment

Billing + case-cycle analysis

$454k

2026 public-defense spend, Jan–Apr (Smith/NCPD $348k · Lackie $82k · Powers $24k)

County GL, 2026

Why it matters

When defense is paid by the case, the system rewards volume, not resolution. A model that pays per appearance has no line item for whether a client ever stopped cycling through. We follow the contracts and the dollars — naming the attorneys and officials who hold these public roles, never the defendants — to ask what the money is actually buying.

Outcomes, Not Cases →

Sources

Whatcom County and City of Bellingham payment ledgers and public-defense contracts; JIS-Link attorney-assignment and case-cycle data; Washington OPD caseload standards. Attorneys and officials are named in their public roles; defendants are not.