The “Washoe County Indigent Defense Workload Report,” released on June 25 by the Washoe County Public Defender, details sharp increases in work hours, shows a need for more attorneys and staff and claims that a new plea policy instituted by Washoe County District Attorney Chris Hicks is largely responsible for increased workloads for Washoe County public defenders. The DA’s office disagrees, insists the policy enhances justice for alleged criminals and victims and says it aligns with policies in other jurisdictions. Regardless of who or what’s to blame, Washoe County’s criminal justice system is facing unprecedented amounts of work leading to clogged courts.
Subscribe to read the series
Overworked and understaffed
Michelle Bays, a spokesperson for the Washoe County District Attorney’s office, said their office does not see workloads as a problem but rather as a duty and a responsibility to do the best job they can for the community.
“Since the DA’s office adopted the Charging and Plea-Bargaining Standards in January of 2023, 64% of the 140 jury trials conducted in 2023 and halfway through 2024 pre-dated the adoption of the standards,” she said. “In other words, 90 of the jury trials that occurred in that timeframe had no connection to the [DA’s] plea-bargaining standard. It is also important to note that this standard also recognizes the importance of critically evaluating evidence before a defendant is ever charged with a crime.”
The public defenders said the amount of work in their offices has become unmanageable.
“The DA’s plea policy (as well as changes in policy by other criminal justice stakeholders) have rendered our workload unmanageable at current staffing levels,” Washoe County Public Defender Evelyn Grosenick wrote on July 2 in an email to Washoe County Manager Eric Brown. “Last year, we shared our concern that the increased workload was unsustainable. We absorbed as much as we could for the last year. Unfortunately, we have been forced to start overflowing cases to the tertiary group.”
Tertiary attorneys are hired when county attorneys—either in the public defender or alternate public defender offices—cannot take a case. This is sometimes because of a conflict of interest, but according to Grosenick, the county pushed defense cases to hired attorneys due to workload and staffing levels. “Defense counsel’s workload increases dramatically in cases that are set for trial,” the report notes.
One of the attorneys at the Public Defender’s office was Kelsey Angeley, who said the work was too much for her while raising a child. She started her own law firm in July, leaving the PD’s office after having been there less than two years. She said District Attorney Chris Hicks’ plea policy is causing more work for public defenders, the courts, judges, staff—and Hicks’ own prosecutors.
“The county isn’t doing something financially smart.”
Public defenders in Washoe County have been understaffed for at least 15 years. A 2009 study found the public defenders’ offices understaffed to meet the demands of constitutionally required legal defenses for those who cannot afford an attorney. “None of the public defender agencies in these jurisdictions is able to provide competent and diligent legal services to all of its clients due to a substantial excess number of cases and an insufficient number of staff,” the 2009 report noted.
Since then, “Washoe County management and the Nevada Supreme Court declined to authorize further inquiry into the level of understaffing,” the 2024 workload report says about the 2009 study.
The Board of County Commissioners has been aware of the issue for years. “This is not a new issue. The implementation of the District Attorney’s plea policy fundamentally changed how cases are resolved in Washoe County and exacerbated existing issues, making any staffing shortages much more significant,” Hickman said.
Grosenick agreed. “We will always do our best for our clients,” she said. “And people are willing to give up weekends and nights to do that. It just reaches a point where it is unsustainable to do it every night and every weekend.”
At an April Washoe Board of County Commissioners meeting, four new attorneys were approved for the DA’s office, and four were allocated to the public defenders’ offices. The workload report indicated the Public Defender’s office and the Alternate Public Defender’s office may need dozens of new attorneys plus support staff based on workload estimates.
The DA’s office called their numbers absurd. “The price tag for their request is nearly $43 million! This should be especially offensive to taxpayers because public defenders are some of the highest-paid public employees in all of Washoe County,” Bays said.
Both Grosenick and Alternate Public Defender Kate Hickman said they were not requesting that many new employees; instead, they cited a need for a workload study specific to Washoe County to determine for sure what their exact staffing needs should be in light of their workload. 
Investing in public defense makes good economic sense, Emily Galvin-Almanza, a lecturer at Stanford Law School and co-executive director of the non-profit Partners for Justice, explained. “Many jurisdictions have not invested in defense as a thing of inherent value,” she said. “Now this is a huge mistake. Our research at Partners For Justice has demonstrated that public defenders do enormous amounts of good for public safety, public health and economic mobility when they are properly staffed.”
“By overburdening the public defenders, the county isn’t saving much money on balance,” she added. “They’re still paying for excess counsel that is required, or they’re paying for people to wait longer in jail for their case to be heard.”
That too increases costs, such as at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office detention facility.
“Let’s be real: Those jail costs have downstream effects,” Galvin-Almanza said. “The county’s taking an economic hit. They’re taking an economic hit in terms of job instability. They may be increasing homelessness by causing more people to become unhoused as they sit in jail waiting for a lawyer because no lawyer is available. So, essentially, the county isn’t doing something financially smart.”
This Is Reno reported, based on a sheriff’s office spokesperson’s report to the Washoe Board of County Commissioners, that the detention facility was deemed overcrowded. That was in April 2023. “This is a concern for me personally,” WCSO Captain Timothy Mosely told county commissioners. “Our bed space is becoming limited. As we go into warmer months, we can anticipate an increase in our inmate population, which is typical for the summer months. It’s concerning.”
The average daily population at the jail in the first part of 2023 was about 1,200 people staying for an average of about 17 days, Mosely added. The population in 2017 was about 1,100 people. Sheriff’s Office personnel have said those who are in longer-term incarceration pose a threat to the community, while those charged with lesser crimes are released before their cases move through the judicial system. The Sheriff’s Office did not provide updated information about its jail population.
