Oregon told a wrongfully accused mother that there were no lawyers available to defend her. She waited two and a half years to clear her name

Corshelle Jenkins, a 36-year-old mother of six from Portland, was wrongly accused of theft in May 2025. Despite telling the court she was innocent, a judge informed her that the state had no lawyers available to represent her. Jenkins is not alone, thousands of people across Oregon are stuck in the court system without legal representation.

In her county alone, over 1,280 defendants were waiting for an attorney, according to The Guardian. The backlog has pushed Oregon’s legal system to a breaking point. The Oregon Supreme Court has acknowledged the damage these delays cause, noting that defendants cannot gather evidence while prosecutors prepare their cases, face restrictions on their freedom, and must keep returning to court under the threat of arrest.

The shortage of public defenders has been building for years. Oregon has long relied on a mix of non-profits, private firms, and individual lawyers to handle public defense, a system that has operated with a “stunning lack of oversight.” In 2020, the state stopped paying individual defenders a flat fee per case regardless of hours worked, but this change led to fewer cases being accepted, making the problem worse.

Oregon’s broken public defense system is ruining lives before any verdict is reached

The consequences for defendants have been serious. Jenkins lost a second job she was pursuing because of the pending charge, and worried her current job was also at risk since it runs annual background checks. Another defendant, Gates, suffered a miscarriage due to the stress of her case. 

Berry, who was charged with misdemeanor trespassing, had his case delayed for nearly a year, causing him to miss out on opportunities, including returning to school and being hired for fast food jobs. Oregon has seen no shortage of cases where lives are upended by unresolved legal mysteries, some taking decades to reach any conclusion.

In February, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that felony cases must be dropped after 90 days without counsel, and misdemeanor cases after 60 days. If a defendant misses a hearing, the clock resets. While this ruling led to over 1,500 cases being dismissed, more than 1,200 defendants remain without representation. The crisis has sparked disagreement over how to fix the system. 

Some believe public defense should be entirely state-run, while others say prosecutors should avoid charging cases that have little public safety value. Grant Hartley, the Multnomah County director of Metropolitan Public Defender, pointed to the district attorney’s office as part of the problem, arguing that unnecessary prosecutions are clogging the system. 

DA Nathan Vasquez, however, argues that filing lower-level cases is necessary to address crimes that frustrate many city residents. For defendants, the experience has felt like a cycle with no end. They believe their case is over, only to find themselves back at the start. 

Oregon has also made headlines for other unexpected crises, a recent incident where a semi-truck carrying millions of bees overturned near Crater Lake showed just how unprepared the state can be when chaos strikes. Jenkins felt relief when her case was dismissed, but she still worries that the charge could follow her and damage her reputation. In January, two and a half years after the wrongful theft charge, Jenkins was finally removed from the case. 

The DA’s spokesperson blamed public defenders for the delay, claiming that if a defense attorney had accepted the appointment when Jenkins was first arraigned, the case would have been resolved much sooner. Jenkins, however, feels let down by the system and worries that if she is ever wrongfully accused again, she will face the same long wait for a lawyer.