Thinking about the public defender? How income screening works and when appointed counsel is the better buy

A driver arrested for DUI in Washington usually meets two money questions in the first week: what a private attorney charges, and whether the court will appoint one instead. The second question gets less attention than it deserves, partly because people assume they earn too much, and partly because the screening process is administrative enough to look like a formality. It is not a formality. It is a calculation with defined inputs, a written result, and consequences that follow the case all the way to the judgment and sentence.

1. The screening form counts household, obligations, and available funds

Washington's indigency statute does not ask only what you earn. Screeners look at income measured against a benchmark tied to the federal poverty guidelines, which the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for setting, and then at what the statute calls available funds: liquid assets, equity you could actually reach, and money someone else is reliably providing. Household size matters, as do court-ordered support payments and basic living costs. A careful reader fills the form out slowly, because a rushed line about a car's value or a spouse's income can flip a result that would otherwise have gone the other way.

2. There is a middle category, and it is worth asking about

Counties do not run a simple yes or no. The statute recognizes a defendant who is indigent and able to contribute, meaning the court appoints counsel and sets a payment toward the cost, often modest and often payable over time. People who assume they are just above the line frequently land here. Screening standards vary between district courts, municipal courts, and the contracting arrangements each county uses, so the practical move is to ask the clerk or the screener directly which category the office applies and what documentation supports it.

3. Appointment covers the criminal case, and the criminal case has edges

The order of appointment covers the charge in that courtroom: arraignment, discovery, motions to suppress, negotiation, trial if it comes to that, and sentencing. What sits outside those edges is where surprises live. The Department of Licensing administrative hearing on the license action is a separate proceeding on its own clock, and appointed counsel is generally not assigned to it. Ignition interlock compliance, SR-22 filings, employer notifications, and immigration consequences run alongside the case rather than inside it. A careful reader asks, at the first meeting, which of those the appointed attorney will handle and which need separate arrangements.

4. Experts and investigators move by motion, not by budget

Private counsel hires a toxicologist by writing a check. Appointed counsel asks the court for authorization of funds, usually by motion under the criminal rules, sometimes ex parte to protect strategy. The practical difference is timing and paperwork rather than availability, and judges in Washington routinely authorize expert assistance where the defense identifies a real issue, whether that is breath test instrument maintenance, blood draw procedure, or retrograde extrapolation. What a reader should check is whether the attorney has actually filed such motions before, and how far in advance of the omnibus date they intend to file this one.

5. Recoupment appears at sentencing, and it is worth reading the form

Appointed counsel is not automatically free. Washington courts can impose the cost of defense as a legal financial obligation at sentencing, though the legislature has narrowed discretionary obligations for defendants the court finds indigent, and the state Supreme Court has required an individualized inquiry into ability to pay before they attach. The number is typically a fraction of private fees rather than a mirror of them. The judgment and sentence has a line for it. A defendant who reads that page before signing, and who raises current indigency on the record, is in a far better position than one who discovers the entry months later.

6. Some cases do not reward the private premium

On a first offense with a clean breath test sequence, a lawful stop, a cooperative client, and a prosecutor working from a standing filing policy, the achievable outcomes are narrow and well known to everyone in the room. Appointed attorneys in busy district courts try these cases constantly, know which deputy prosecutor will move on which fact, and are subject to caseload standards designed to keep that volume workable. Paying privately buys attention and scheduling flexibility, both real. It does not buy a different statute.

The question to answer is not whether appointed counsel is good enough in general, but which specific tasks your case needs and who is assigned to each one. Get the screening done properly, read the appointment order, and ask about the license hearing separately.