Monday, June 6, 2011

Can I trust my public defender?

Q: Can I trust my public defender?
A: MAYBE, it depends on your level of maturity.  There are a number of reasons the system does not work.

THE TOP FIVE REASONS THE PUBLIC DEFENDER SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK
When a criminal defendant indicates that he is unable to afford an attorney, the judge will often appoint an attorney.  This court appointed attorney represents the defendant at a minimal cost, often just the cost of appointment, which is currently fifty dollars ($50) in Georgia.  Irrespective of whether the indigent criminal defendant is represented by the public defender, court appointed counsel (private attorney that agrees to take court appointed work), or a conflict defender, the relationship is often strained, and the system fails to work.  There are a number of reasons the system does not work:
(5) Clients arrested for criminal offenses have poor judgment.  This should be no real surprise.  Some poor choice has led to the arrest.  Either the criminal client has elected to knowingly participate in criminal activity, OR associate with others who he knows frequently engage in criminal activity.  Either the criminal client has deliberately placed himself in a dangerous locale, OR has followed some friend to a den of iniquity.  I have yet to represent the honor student on his way home from chemistry lab that gets caught up in the drug raid.  I am sure some attorney has, just not me.  Irrespective of how the arrest occurred, the client often gave the officer arresting him plenty of reason to arrest him.
After he is arrested and assigned an attorney to represent him, the criminal client begins the relationship by referring to the court appointed attorney has a “public pretender” or “free lawyer”.  Only an insane person would think it is a good idea to insult the only person standing between the criminal client and a lengthy prison sentence, and justify the insult as a means of motivating the attorney to do more on his case than the next defendant. 
The public defender (aka court appointed attorney) is analogous to public transportation.  When you have no private automobile, the bus will get you there.  It will not pick you up at your door step, or drop you at the front door of your destination.  It may require you to wait before it arrives, and require that you stand during the trip.  It may take longer to get to your destination because other stops must be made.  However, it does get you to your destination, and it is much better than walking.  Similarly, the public defender knows the law, the judge and the prosecutor.  The public defender cannot spend any more time with the client than is necessary to communicate with the client.  The PD cannot be the criminal client’s friend, that is not his job.  If the client charged with a crime thinks the PD cannot properly represent him, if the PD does not get to know the client by spending five hours a week with the client, then the client has poor judgment, because the PD is fighting the charges, not the allegation that the client is a bad person, of low morale character. 

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About Me

I hung a shingle in February 2000, because I saw that individuals charged with criminal offenses were being underserved by the attorneys practicing criminal law. Since February 2000, I have represented more than two thousand criminal clients. I only practice criminal law, but I do everything from violations of probation to Supreme Court appeals. There are few attorneys under the age of sixty that have my level of experience. I have tried more than two hundred major felony jury trials. I have tried more than fifty misdemeanor jury trials. In Philadelphia as a prosecutor, I tried more than two thousand bench trials. I have conducted more than three thousand preliminary hearings and bond hearings. Yet, I still have the energy at forty-five to serve my current clients. There is nothing that will occur in a courtroom that I have not experienced before. When you are looking for an attorney, experience is everything.