Accused rapist, sex offender and others released because of Benton attorney shortage

A Tri-Cities tattoo artist accused of raping a customer is one of four people ordered released from jail this week because of an attorney shortage.

Jose I. Chamorro Castillo had been in the Benton County jail over a month without being given a defense attorney, while facing two counts of second-degree rape.

“This individual has been in jail for five weeks without an attorney,” Superior Court Judge Diana Ruff said. “I can’t ignore the fact that his Sixth Amendment right is being violated.”

Ruff appeared to become increasingly frustrated over the course of Thursday’s criminal docket as she released three men facing sex offenses and a woman accused of burglarizing a home.

In all of the cases, the defendants were in jail for weeks waiting to meet with an attorney. Most still hadn’t by Thursday.

The judge explained that she took an oath to uphold the state and U.S. constitutions, and the possibility of someone being a danger to the community can’t trump a suspect’s right to a lawyer.

They also have a right to a trial within 60 days of entering a plea to the charge. If they’ve been released from custody, they are entitled to a trial within 90 days.

Charlie Dow, manager of Benton County’s Office of Public Defense, has previously said he is attempting to recruit more defense attorneys.

“The Benton County Office of Public Defense makes every effort to appoint counsel to every defendant that qualifies as quickly as possible. Our county, like many others, has been experiencing a shortage of public defense attorneys, which is a crisis that is occurring not just in our state but nationwide,” Dow said in a statement to the Tri-City Herald.

It’s unclear how many more attorneys he needs to meet the demand. Three have left the department since the beginning of the year.

While county prosecutors asked Ruff to appoint a private attorney rather than eliminate the suspect’s bail and let them be released, she said she needed a list of willing attorneys before she could do that.

Benton County Prosecutor Eric Eisinger has promised to help develop that list.

Ruff was not the only judge on Thursday to face the problem of what to do with several defendants who weren’t represented.

Judge David Petersen ruled in at least two cases that the defendants would stay in jail and if they didn’t get an attorney by the end of the 60-day deadline their charges would be dropped.

Suspects released

Of the four defendants ordered released, three were out of the Benton County jail by Friday.

All were ordered to return to court weekly to track their cases. They also are not allowed to leave Benton and Franklin counties.

The one facing the most serious charges, Chamorro Castillo, allegedly attacked a series of women who came to him for tattoos at The Badder Ink tattoo shop in Kennewick.

A woman reported in December 2022 that he offered to give her a free tattoo at his home. While she was there, he attacked her.

Detectives also found three reports from women in Kennewick in 2019 who reported Chamorro Castillo raped them. He’s currently charged with two counts of rape.

He was arrested and jailed April 17. He had previously been ordered to turn over his tattoo artist license.

The others released include:

• Registered sex offender, John Joseph David, 68, charged with communicating with a minor for immoral purposes. He is accused of propositioning a group of teenage girls on April 16 in a parking lot on George Washington Way in Richland.

• Savannah Lyn Bostic, 33, charged with residential burglary with a notice of domestic violence. Bostic allegedly entered the Richland home of her ex-husband on May 18, violating a protection order to keep her away from the house.

• Dominic Kirk, 21, charged with communication with a minor for immoral purposes and indecent exposure. He allegedly exposed himself to a woman on Columbia Center Boulevard on April 12, and it was later discovered that he sent nude images to a 15-year-old girl in Ohio. Kirk is also charged in Franklin County for exposing himself to a Pasco High teenager and will be transferred to that jail.

Defense attorney shortage

The lack of defense attorneys has become a regular problem in Benton and Franklin counties. While in the recent past Franklin County has been in a worse position, the regular churn of attorneys is now plaguing Benton County.

It’s been common for defendants to wait weeks if not a month before they get assigned a public defender in Benton County.

Normally, the unrepresented suspects are brought into court on the first Wednesday or Thursday of a month to have an attorney appointed. This was the first time this year there weren’t attorneys to appoint.

Dow said during a Thursday hearing that he isn’t giving one defendant any priority over another.

“I don’t see a difference between the right for someone accused of murder or someone accused of burglary,” he said. “It’s the same right to counsel.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled on Oregon’s floundering public defense system.

Oregon’s state-funded system has left many defendants waiting in jail, some for up to a year, without an attorney and to navigate an unfamiliar and confusing system.

The appeals court upheld a U.S. District Court judge decision that would require defendants to be appointed an attorney within seven days of their initial appearance, otherwise they should be released from jail before their trial.

While the 9th Circuit includes much of the western United States, prosecutors have taken the position that the decision only applies in Oregon.

Ruff and Dow have taken the stand that the case could provide a precedent for Washington which has seen similar attorney shortages.

The case also specifically points out the problems faced in Washington’s public defense system.

This has been compounded by an upcoming change in the number of cases that public defense attorneys can handle. State law limits attorneys to 150 felony cases every year.

The state bar association changed its professional rules to make a series of cuts that would bring that number down to 47 by 2027.

In addition, cases will be weighted based on their complexity. More complex cases with higher potential sentences will be worth more “credits” than simpler cases.

Fixing the shortage

It remains unclear what steps Dow is taking to recruit attorneys. He told the Herald that he is working with county officials on a statement about the shortage.

The statement was not immediately available on Friday.

Eisinger said the issue is a huge concern.

“I am discussing this with my leadership,” he said. “I take very seriously my charge to protect community safety. We also recognize that there is a right to an attorney.”

The prosecutor’s office sent a letter to the Benton and Franklin counties Superior Court judges saying that he is working to find a solution to the issue.

He asked the judges to appoint private attorneys if public defense lawyers are not available. In the past, the judges have been reluctant to use private attorneys because of the cost to the public.