A recent report by the Washoe County public defenders offices claimed that a new plea policy instituted by Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks is largely responsible for increased workloads for Washoe County public defenders. Courts are also seeing massive increases in criminal cases.
Subscribe to read the series
The policy, enacted by Hicks in early 2023, mandates in part that, “absent the approval of the prosecutor’s team chief, a prosecutor shall not offer or accept an offer of a plea bargain to a charge other than the most serious charge or most serious degree of charge.”
On its face, it’s a tough-on-crime policy change critics say is driving increases in work throughout the judicial system. But that’s not the whole story.
The Nevada Independent reported on the controversy in December. The plea policy change and subsequent increase in the amount of work for attorneys on both sides of cases continues. The DA insists the policy is fair and common. The increase in cases is due to a variety of factors, including population growth and backlogs of cases caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the DA’s spokesperson said.
Washoe County officials are tight-lipped about the situation, even though judges have repeatedly noted their full dockets when scheduling court hearings. Elected commissioners refused to answer questions about even basic details on the impact of the policy change. Only Commissioner Mike Clark responded to questions from This Is Reno. Emails to the other commissioners went unanswered. Commissioner Clara Andriola merely forwarded a statement about the situation issued by County Manager Eric Brown that had previously been sent to This Is Reno.
The workload increase among public defenders, however, prompted the report by the county’s two public defender offices, which was published—but not publicly—on June 25. The “Washoe County Indigent Defense Workload Report” details sharp increases in work hours, showing a need for more attorneys and staff, public defenders said.
Hicks called the report “outrageous, misleading and devoid of any data that supports their position.”
The following is part one of a series being published over the coming days. Subscribe here to get access to all This Is Reno articles.
DA defends policy
The plea policy change by the DA’s office indicates a defendant charged with crimes “will normally be expected to plead guilty to the most serious charge or most serious degree of charge filed that reflects the nature of his or her criminal conduct, or go to trial.
“In certain circumstances, however, a plea agreement with a defendant in exchange for a plea of guilty to a charge or charges that are not the most serious or that may not fully describe the nature of his or her criminal conduct may be necessary and in the interest of justice.”
The DA insisted this policy enhances justice for alleged criminals and victims. DA spokesperson Michelle Bays said the plea policy is consistent with other jurisdictions.
“This office’s standards seek to promote victim rights and offender accountability, enhance community safety, maintain trust in offense-charging decisions, and improve consistency and transparency, while always having justice as its overarching goal,” she said. “These standards are not a novel concept. They exist throughout our legal system, including the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
Bays could not provide examples of other jurisdictions with similar policies to Washoe County, however. There’s a reason for that: Most jurisdictions do not publish plea policies online like Hicks does.
“One thing that we’ve seen across the country is, as prosecutors have made announcements about what their policies are, they’ve faced backlash,” said Carissa Hessick, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law, who is an expert on plea bargaining. “They faced backlash because people are like, ‘Well, I don’t know that I agree with that policy.’ That doesn’t necessarily mean that the policy is bad, but it does create a disincentive for prosecutors to say what their policies are.”
“There are few prosecutors who have the resources that would be required to try every case. Most prosecutors actively engage in negotiations to reach appropriate dispositions in most cases.”
Bays said the DA’s office regularly affords plea negotiations to defendants, citing 50 plea deals already in 2024. She also said the DA’s policy is consistent with the DOJ, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the national organization for prosecutors, the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA).
The NDAA has an online guide for prosecution standards. The guide notes, “The prosecutor is under no obligation to enter into a plea agreement that has the effect of disposing of criminal charges in lieu of trial. However, where it appears that it is in the public interest, the prosecution may engage in negotiations for the purpose of reaching an appropriate plea agreement.”
Prosecutors should consider a variety of factors for plea agreements, the guide recommends. Those include the degree of offenses, possible mitigating circumstances for criminal activity and the likelihood of prosecution.
“In the prosecutor’s quest for justice, it is necessary and desirable to dispose of criminal cases without going to trial,” the guide notes. “There are few prosecutors who have the resources that would be required to try every case. Given that reality, most prosecutors actively engage in negotiations to reach appropriate dispositions in most cases.”
The DOJ’s policy is similar, but not exactly, to Hicks’. It indicates prosecutors will “generally seek a plea to the most serious offense.”
Bays said Hicks’ policy has justice as the goal. “This office’s standards promote several obvious benefits, including advancing victim rights and offender accountability, enhancing community safety, maintaining trust in offense-charging decisions, and improving consistency and transparency, while always having justice as its overarching goal,” she said. “These are our standards, which we developed and implemented because we felt strongly this would best serve the community, victims of crime and ensure justice. We have chosen to publish our standards to the public.”
Critics of the policy said, however, that more cases going to trial has increased work throughout the local justice system.
Read part two tomorrow.
