(Salem, OR) -- Oregon is seeing a record high number of people facing charges without a lawyer. The Oregon Judicial Department says four-thousand-187 people were awaiting trial without an attorney to defend them in January. That's up eleven-percent from December and is an all-time high. A lobbyist for Oregon's District Attorney Association told lawmakers during a hearing on the problem that the state has been plagued by a lack of public defenders since before the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.