Wish my uncle would do this. He has been attempting to do everything pro se. Maybe this will convince him

I am biased because I "allegedly" got a non-dump truck Public Defender... i i mean "Public Pretender" for my initial stuff.

This guy was such a jerk he lied to me for MONTHS all the while my case already 2 weeks after I got locked up got sent to the federal grand jury. So for MONTHS he strung me along and then inadvertently(?) told me that the state was dropping the case. I went ahead by saying, "Well if they are dropping the case then I get released right?"

Wrong.

USM's came and promptly picked me up and took me away.

Thanks for sharing. While I went through all of my court proceedings it was a nightmare choosinf my attorney. In fact I chose my attorney sitting in the interview room of the police atation after being charged and told i was allowed one phone call. Since I had no experience with the law I went with the biggest advertisement I could find. While the attorney did an ok job and kept me out of prison another attorney who represented me in later proceedings for breaking the offenders registry regulation told me he would of told me to say nothing in the interview which would of given me a chance of getting me off the charges altogether as it was a new crime and in essance I was tried and convicted by the media. Anyway thanks again for sharing.

All i can say is....its a crap shoot. After working in the court system and seeing many defense lawyers....i thought i knew who was best. I suggested a couple of attorneys to the family of my daughters boyfriend. I saw these guys in action.

Well low and behold...the one attorney they chose was great in the courtroom but sucked when it came to responding to emails and phone calls.

So in a sense you cant judge a book by its cover. What you see may not be what you get.

All i can offer is do your research. Get references. Talk to prior clients. It all happens so fast but you can always change lawyers.

I do have to praise the public defenders. For the most part the ones i have seen are good lawyers. But they do not have the time to invest. They are overloaded with caseloads.

Lawyers are like car salesmen!

My husband's attorney was a public defender. He never conferred with him at any time before court dates. He spent 15 mins. with him before the hearings. He recommended a plea bargain. If he went to trial 25-life was on the table. The judge sentenced him to a total of 96 months with time served in county and 15% off for good behavior. He also has to register for life and will be on parole for life. I think that stinks.

It is hard to choose a good attorney. We are members of Legal Shield & that is how we found ours. It has cost us close to $10,000. We have sold everything & are now living in our 25' RV, but it has been worth it. My husband received 6 months in county jail with work release, 5 years probation. Yes he does have to be on the registry but that we are going to fight because the court wrote his judgement up wrong & the lawyer says we have a chance at that. I highly recommend Legal Shield, we only pay $17.00 a month for it & have used it for other legal issues.