Echo,

Kelly's sentence hit me hard also.

I chatted with Kelly many times. She told me a lot of very personal things.

Kelly is NOT an evil person. Yes, she is mixed-up, as we all are at times, but she is a damn good kid. She just made a stupid mistake.

Yet they ran over her and treated her like a dog. It should not have been like that. They took advantage of her being naïve and her quiet nature.

The sentence she received was far too lengthy. That hurt me. She could have physically molested a dozen toddlers and received a shorter sentence than she did with her non-contact, non-violent crime.

What they did was a disgrace to America.

It is just absolutely crazy and makes no sense.

rewdiazepam

Echomoon where the hell are you? That is a bunch of bull shit! Can i swear on this forum? I sure hope so. If your daughter was in my court not only would i give her real tissues but would do what i could to help her.

I am so sorry. I only know what happens in my own county. The more time i am on this forum the more i realize that other jurisdictions really need training in diversity/ethics.

As for private attorneys versus Public defenders it is a crap shoot. I can tell you that it depends on the person. The best attorney i have ever seen is a public defender. My SIL had a high priced private attorney that really didnt do anything more than a PD. I feel bad because i recommended him to the family. He didnt respond to emails or calls in a timely fashion. He didnt say what the DA had for a plea deal. All i can say is attorneys are just like the rest of the system.

OMG i am really sounding cynical. It is what it is. All i can say is if i feel this way and seeing it from my point of view, it is no wonder that you are more disgusted than me.

My husband had a public defender, 2 actually (a newbie and the senior PD) and I think they did the best job they could. The ADA was a bitch and was not above coaching the accuser among other things. The PDs were honest and told my hubby they felt it was a 50/50 shot at winning. They felt he had a good case, but since some of his evidence was kept out, it wasn't as good as it could have been.

After the trial came back with a hung jury, they suggested if a decent plea was offered, my hubby should take it, and he did.

Westdenali,

Yeah, you are sounding cynical.

I have often told folks that these situations will knock the Pollyanna out of them really quick.

rewdiazepam

West, she went to fed court in knox county, tn. i don't know about the whole cynical thing? but you sound like your learning. ( i mean that in a good way) and it sounds like your being realistic. i can only imagine that being in your position? (job) that it's been extremely eye opening to now experience and see both sides to the SO issue. and the learning of all the ins and outs of being on both sides of this issue. i hate that you had to find us and i'm glad that you did. also while i don't envy you the of learning the lessons in what happens and goes on in this issue. i am glad that your learning. you can be a real asset and friend to us. and to any others that you reach out to.

i know that everyone in the forum has been negatively impacted, heart broken and had their lives blown out of the water by our association and relationship with all the SO issues and laws.

the difference in sentencing between state and fed laws/court is ???. i don't have or can't even think of a word for it.

the lack of compassion the sheer callousness and the stupidity of the laws, and those that make them boggle the mind. if 2 people get arrested for the same damn SO crime and the only diff is whether it's state or fed? can mean the diff between 18mnths and 400yrs. yeah i read where one guy was sentenced to 400yrs for CP.

everyone here relates to the confusion, pain, fear and feeling of desolation of what can happen simply because of a mistake, an accident, stupidity or curiosity. to railroad someone and imprison them for a huge chunk of their lives simply because for some reason they got caught with CP or because they were wrongly accused. it's wrong!

for any freaking crime that is non-violent and/or non-contact, it's morally, ethically, emotionally and humanely wrong.

Rew, you've got Kelly pretty well pegged!

no, she's not evil. she's quiet and shy, can't stand to see anyone or anything hurt and would run 1,000mls at 100mphs because she absolutely hates confrontations. and would do just about anything in her power to help you out if you needed her.

and for all her intelligence? she is very, very naive. and she can be way to trusting of the wrong people and situations!!!! Kelly all to often leads with her heart and not her head.

Kitty, I'm really sorry to hear about your current ordeal with your son's attorney. If you feel that you'd like to talk to someone else about your son's situation, I would be more than happy to give you a fresh perspective on things or answer any questions you may have. Again, I'm very sorry that you are having to deal with this. If you'd like, please feel free to email me at mark@allenbaughlaw.com.

Just in case you all are not aware, there is such a thing at least in California called a Marsden hearing. The defendant requests this hearing directly to the judge if they feel that their attorney or P.D. is not representing them properly or if there is a conflict or if they feel that there is ineffective assistance of council. The judge must hold this private hearing and the defendant is able to bring up any issues they feel necessary. I held three of them and went through four P.D's and eventually three and a half years later won my case, but i went into these hearings prepared with everything documented so the judge took me seriously. Attorneys do not like these hearings and they can help especially with these types of cases were attorneys a lot of times don't care that much, but these hearings should not be abused as it can turn things against you if there are not serious issues going on.

JEEZE that sounds like the PD my daughter got stuck with... he didn't give a good damn about her. she was just so much of his time wasted to go thru the motions. just to earn a paycheck? maybe fulfill his quota??

Kreator I wish I knew that a couple of years ago. I begged hubby to request a new PD, but he didn't know what to do, and thought maybe they were doing things on the backend and he just wasn't seeing it. He sees now they just threw him to the wolves.

I talked to my son last night. he told me that he is as sure as he can be the court will not give him a new lawyer. He said he knows several guys there who requested a new lawyer and all were denied. He said he got the lawyer he got because they had no other PD's available.
Here is a copy of my latest email to him, and his reply, see what you think:

Mr. Ashley,

I talked to my son last night, I told him that you had not gone to see him yet, you requested an extension for the plea deadline, and that you don't want him to make a rush decision. My son informed me that you had told him at the beginning that you would advise against any plea deal, that if the court grants your motion to sever, the DA doesn't have enough evidence on him specifically to get a conviction. You told him you can get the charges dropped, you also promised that he would not have to serve any additional time. My son is convinced that his best bet is to go to trial. The DA has his laptop, external hard drives, etc. They have all the photos and videos. If they show that stuff to a jury, my son will not stand a chance.

I am asking you to please go see my son. Explain his options, and the possible outcome of going to trial. Please have an honest conversation with him.



his response:

Received your email of Dec. 28. To say it distressed me is putting it mildly. There has never been a time in my more than 30 years of practice I’ve not been honest with a client. Secondly to say it is somewhat difficult to get from here to Missoula (120 miles away) with our record snow fall (my daughter took 2 hours to go to Butte _65 miles- Christmas Eve) is putting it mildly. Your son is well aware I am only a phone call away in any event and it was my impression you wanted to relay any info to him.

To bring you up to date as a joint motion and the latest order from the judge indicates we now have a new plea deadline we all asked for because any of the pending motions could be dispositive of various cases and/or evidence. No one, myself in particular, wishes to be in the position of having a client plead or sign a plea agreement and have the judge dismiss it the next day. Unless and until all the pending motions (ours in particular) are decided your son will NOT be pleading. In any event as things now stand he will not be signing any plea agreement with my blessing since the latest offer includes a waive of ALL potential appeallable issues. That’s not going to happen on My Watch.

I honestly don’t know where your son got the info he passed on. I have been up front with him all along that if my various motions failed we’d have a tough time at trial . never told him, nor anyone else, I could get charges dropped nor that he would not have to serve additional time.

I will as you advise go have “an honest conversation” with him when there is something tangible we can discuss.
Mayo


Foot note from me,
In the meantime the deadline for the plea deal is January 9th, a plea deal my son has not seen yet.