The Oregon Supreme Court has upheld a decision to suspend a Central Oregon public defender’s law license for two years after the Oregon State Bar found he mishandled dozens of cases.

Jason P. Munn was found guilty of misconduct by the Oregon State Bar in August 2023 after former Chief Deputy District Attorney Brentley Foster discovered in 2020 that the Redmond attorney was not reviewing discovery documents or conducting his own investigation into client cases. Munn appealed the decision, but the Oregon Supreme Court upheld the 24-month suspension.

In an interview with The Bulletin, Munn denied wrongdoing and characterized allegations that he failed to review discovery as “inaccurate.”

“I am disappointed in the investigation and prosecution by the State Bar,” Munn said Thursday. “I hate to say it, but I felt the investigation was corrupt. I thought the prosecution was corrupt. I thought there was outside influences and maybe that had something to do with it.”

The Oregon State Bar, the licensing, disciplinary and regulatory body for attorneys in Oregon, did not respond to Munn’s corruption allegation, saying the petition to the Oregon Supreme Court could speak for itself.

Munn’s misconduct was first reported by Foster in 2020 after she discovered through her office’s internal case management computer system that Munn had not been accessing client records. The system records when attorneys request discovery and when they access those documents. She identified 96 potentially problematic cases between 2017 and 2020, and detailed 37 cases in a grievance to the Oregon State Bar. At least three of those 37 cases resulted in plea deals with lengthy prison sentences, court documents reflect.

At the time, Munn was under contract with Oregon Public Defense Services, now the Oregon Public Defense Commission. After Foster reported her discovery, Munn was suspended from working on public cases and the commission hired the Oregon Justice Resource Center to investigate the extent of Munn’s misconduct. The Bulletin reported on the results of that investigation in March, which resulted in several petitions for post-conviction relief.

The Oregon State Bar investigated Munn separately beginning in November 2020. The investigation requested that Munn respond individually to the 37 cases outlined in Foster’s complaint, but Munn was unable to produce specific details. The Oregon Supreme Court noted in its decision that Munn was granted two time extensions before he responded generally a month later, saying that “discovery materials were reviewed.”

When the state bar asked for Munn to address each case specifically, he stated “I always felt, in each case, I had sufficient knowledge of the facts to properly advise and counsel all former clients in the pursuit of their goals.” Viewing the response as incomplete, the Oregon State Bar sent a third information request that Munn did not respond to.

Munn told The Bulletin he intentionally did not respond to that information request because he felt the Oregon State Bar wasn’t “getting the answers they wanted.” Due to his lack of response, the Oregon State Bar put Munn on an administrative suspension and filed an official complaint against him in September, 2021.

In 2023, a trial panel concluded Munn was guilty of 10 conduct violations and imposed a 24-month suspension. This suspension, which Munn appealed, is what the Oregon Supreme Court upheld in its decision released on July 25.

Munn’s disciplinary suspension will take effect Sept. 23.