Seattle attorney sues after Mason County appointment

A Seattle attorney who says he was unlawfully “conscripted” into being a Mason County public defender has sued Mason County District Court and Judge George Steele to reverse the appointment.

Jonathan Lewis, who has a legal practice in Seattle, filed a writ of mandamus in Mason County Superior Court on Feb. 27. The writ is used when government officials have allegedly taken a legally prohibited action.

Steele assigned Lewis to defend a man charged in district court with DUI whose primary language is Kanjobal.

Lewis immediately “respectfully declined the appointment,” saying it was not in accordance with GR 42, a state general rule regarding public defense services, according to documents filed with the writ.

“As Mason County has a public defense agency, GR 42 mandates that the court

refer the party that agency or administrator to designate

a qualified attorney.

Alternatively, a public defense administrator may, prior to a court hearing where

eligibility is determined, designate a qualified attorney to be appointed if the court finds the party is eligible,” Lewis wrote.

“I apologize for the imposition; however, as I

said, I am being given little choice,” Steele responded in an email.

Steele said the public defender’s office didn’t have in-house attorneys to send to district court.

“Public defenders operate under strict case counts and to add misdemeanor cases to felony cases, lessens the supply of attorneys to take the felony cases. In 2023, the public defender’s office went nearly one half of one year with limited ability to send anyone to district court to take these cases. We are there again,” Steele wrote, according to court documents.

Steele said he was forced to “conscript lawyers” or dismiss cases, according to the documents.

“Before I simply start dismissing cases and putting this court’s ability to process these cases on hold, I will use every remedy available to continue the court’s ability to hear cases. The public has a right to see that the laws are fairly enforced; the defendants have a right to be treated fairly and have their rights protected,” Steele wrote.

He said Lewis would receive $75 per hour.

Lewis wrote back, disagreeing with Steele’s legal argument and commenting on attorney fees.

“Using the case, you state I am assigned to, I would

charge no less than $25,000 due in full when retained. He is on his 3rd DUI in 7 years. And he is 20 years old?” Lewis wrote.

He said his normal billing rate is $500 per hour, $1,000 per court appearance and $2,500 per day for trial.

“If the court wishes to pay billable rates (with a 20 hour minimum) I will consider foregoing the legal arguments,” Lewis wrote.

He also noted his practice was in Seattle, “at least 5 or 6 hours round trip from your jurisdiction,” he wrote.

Lewis again explained his understanding of state law regarding public defender appointments.

“If, as the court says, the understaffing at the PDA is the equivalent of having no PDA (which I disagree with as well), then the court should appoint a qualified attorney, on a rotating basis, from an independently established list of assigned counsel or contractors,” Lewis wrote.

He told Steele, “Finally, I have no idea who you are. There is no information in your signature block or any information regarding your affiliation to this matter or any information in how to contact you to verify your credentials to make such decisions.”

“I find it odd that you have no idea who I am. I am the judge of the Mason County District Court and if you have any doubts, I would suggest you call the court and remove any doubt that you may have,” Steele responded in an email.

Steele wrote that GR 42 “specifically allows the court to appoint a qualified attorney if no attorney list is available. There is no list available so that subsection allows me to do exactly what I have done,” Steele wrote.

In other correspondence entered into evidence, Lewis tries to determine how Steele got his name if Steele did not use an attorney list.

Lewis called Mason County District Court Administrator Patsy Robinson, inquiring about any alleged list, and documented the call in an email.

“After speaking with you, I now understand that Judge Steele keeps a private list of attorneys that you have never seen or currently have a copy of. You mentioned that when the court needs an attorney, for whatever reason, Judge Steele will refer to his list and email the attorney directly. You also mentioned that you have nothing to do with this list or how Judge Steele maintains his list, how he selects attorneys for his list, and do not assist in selecting the attorneys on the list whatsoever,” Lewis wrote, according to court documents.

Steele responded to Lewis’ request for a copy of the list, saying that the list includes people who are licensed to practice law.

“I have no intention of going through each and every appointment I have made as I consider it to be none of your business,” Steele wrote. He then reminded Lewis that he was appointed as a defender and his protest had been rejected.

In his writ, Lewis asks that Steele “withdraw his order” appointing him as counsel and asks the court to bar Steele “from further conscripting attorneys counter to GR 42,” according to the writ.

Lewis and Steele did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment.

Mason County Chief Public Defender Peter Jones could not comment on current litigation.

Jones told the Journal how the district court typically assigns public defenders. He said there are case count limits and currently, each attorney can take 400 cases a year or 33 cases a month. Standards are different for felonies.

Generally, there are two attorneys for district court and 16 cases a month are contracted out to an outside law firm.

“That means that, without outside help, we can handle 82 misdemeanor cases/month — assuming we’re fully employed. Outside of that, we can hire attorneys hourly if they’ll accept the $100/hr county pay rate,” Jones said in an email.

That assumes they’re fully staffed —and they’re not, Jones said.

In 2023, the court was fully staffed for three out of 12 months, and they had no employed attorneys for six of those months, he said.

In 2024, they were back to no staff, but hired an attorney in February and have a second attorney starting in April. They also had to deal with a staff member suddenly leaving with over 150 open cases.

“In January 2024, 78 new criminal cases were filed in the District Court in addition to that backlog. And with no employed attorneys, instead of having 82 available cases to cover them, I had only the 16 cases on contract available. We attempted to get hourly attorneys in, but we tapped that well dry. At which point I was forced to send Judge Steele an affidavit on certain cases informing him that we were currently unable to find counsel,” Jones said.

Lewis’ complaint is scheduled for a hearing April 1 before Mason County Superior Court Judge David Stevens.