Office of Public Defense

General Information About Cowlitz County Office of Public Defense

If you have a prior conviction for Possession of Controlled Substance, that conviction has been impacted by the Supreme Court ruling in State v. Blake, 197 Wash.2d 170, 481 P.3d 521 (2021). 

 

Blake Attorney

Craig Suffian

206-338-7833

craig@sufflaw.com 


If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office. 


The Cowlitz County Office of Public Defense (CCOPD) represents people accused of crimes in the Cowlitz County courts. We represent adults and juveniles in Superior Court, the Juvenile Division of Superior Court, and in District Court.  

We also represent people held at Peace Health/St. John's Hospital for involuntary civil commitment detention hearings.  This area of representation includes those involuntarily detained based on mental health concerns.  We also represent individuals facing civil commitment based on substance use disorder held at other evaluation and treatment facilities.

We represent youth involved in Juvenile Court in At Risk Youth proceedings and Child in Need of Services proceedings under the Becca Bill. We have an attorney that represents individuals on the Support Enforcement Docket addressing unpaid child support obligations.  We also have an attorney assigned to represent parents in Uniform Guardianship Act proceedings.  

We only handle cases where the people involved have a right to a lawyer. All of our clients are assigned to us by the court. People who cannot afford to hire a lawyer can ask the judge for a court appointed lawyer. 

If the judge decides that an individual person qualifies for a court appointed lawyer, the Cowlitz County Office of Public Defense will assign the person a lawyer. We have several private attorneys that we contract with to provide representation in criminal cases in which this office has a conflict and also contract with attorneys to represent children in dependency hearings and in Uniform Guardianship Act matters.  Contract attorneys have their own independent offices.  

We are located in Longview, WA at 1801 First Avenue in Suite 1A of the River Suites Building. Our office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m and on Friday 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. We are closed on Holidays.  Our office phone is 360-578-7430.  

You can also message us on our facebook page! https://www.facebook.com/cowlitzopd