Oregon launches new public defender division to stem constitutional crisis

Micah Moskowitz has the same job as every public defender in Oregon — providing the best legal defense possible.

But there’s a difference here.

Moskowitz is part of a new breed of defender in Oregon county courthouses: one who works directly for the government, not as a private attorney under contract.

The shift, approved by state lawmakers last year, is the latest bid to provide public defenders to the thousands of Oregonians who have been