Dec. 28, 2005
V. David Hocraffer selected to head King County Office of the Public Defender
King County Executive Ron Sims today announced the selection of V. David Hocraffer as King County's Public Defender and director of the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), effective February 1, 2006.
As the new Public Defender, Mr. Hocraffer will be responsible for overseeing OPD operations, including screening individuals for eligibility for publicly funded legal representation, assigning cases to an attorney or agency, administering contracts with contract public defense agencies, and monitoring caseloads and the quality of representation. Mr. Hocraffer's appointment is subject to confirmation by the Metropolitan King County Council.
"David Hocraffer has the legal and management skills to ensure that the Office of the Public Defender continues to provide exceptional legal representation for its clients," Sims said. "We are lucky to have someone of his obvious talent and deep experience agree to take on this important and complicated job in King County."
Mr. Hocraffer has more than 25 years experience as a trial attorney and public defender, including several public defender management positions. He is currently a managing and supervising attorney for the Columbia County Consortium, a public defense contractor to the State of Oregon that provides representation to indigent clients in murder, felony, misdemeanor, and juvenile dependency and delinquency cases. Mr. Hocraffer is responsible for attorney supervision and caseload assignments, contract negotiations with Oregon's Public Defense Services Commission, and managing administrative reporting requirements. He also carries a personal caseload of public defense cases.
Prior to his current position, Mr. Hocraffer served as a senior staff attorney for an agency called Metropolitan Public Defender, Inc., where he carried varied caseloads including murder (both adult and juvenile), felony, misdemeanor and civil commitment cases, first in Multnomah County and also in Washington County, Oregon.
He also served as a supervising attorney for the Metropolitan Public Defender Multnomah County Juvenile Court Section, where he supervised and assigned caseloads, served as the liaison between his office and Juvenile Court and administered the Juvenile Court public defense contract, while also carrying a personal caseload of dependency and delinquency cases including juvenile murder, remand, and termination of parental rights. He has extensive jury trial experience.
In addition, Mr. Hocraffer has served on numerous high-level policy setting groups on both the state and county levels in Oregon, including service as a member of the Juvenile Law Task Force, formed by the Oregon State Bar to review and recommend adoption and revise standards for juvenile law practice in dependency and delinquency cases. He is a member of the Indigent Defense Model Contract Work Group for Oregon's Public Defense Services Commission, responsible for reviewing current contract process and format for Oregon state public defense contracts, and he is a member of the Columbia County Circuit Court Adult and Juvenile Drug Court Committees. In addition, he is a member of the Family Law Advisory Committee, legislatively created to oversee county family law policy and issues that is chaired by the Presiding Judge for Columbia County Circuit Court, and he is a member of the Juvenile Court Improvement Project, a committee that focuses on analysis and improvement of Oregon's juvenile courts.
His experience also includes domestic violence issues, and he has served as chair of the Justice Issues Subcommittee of the Columbia County Domestic Violence Advisory Council, which focused on court, law enforcement and data collections issues. He has also served as a board member for the CASA (court appointed special advocates) of Columbia County.
An accomplished instructor on criminal justice issues, Mr. Hocraffer has taught several continuing legal education classes (CLEs) for attorneys accredited by the Oregon State Bar on subjects including juvenile law practice, dangerous offender sentencing, domestic relations, interviewing child witnesses, juvenile remand, and sex offender cases.
Mr. Hocraffer received his undergraduate degree from Illinois State University and his Juris Doctor from Southern Illinois University. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar and the Oregon State Bar and is a past-president of the Columbia County Bar Association. He is also a member of the Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Upon his relocation to King County, he will take immediate steps to become a member of the Washington State Bar.