My Public Pretender/Defender
I had a public defender when I was going back and forth to court. The prosecutor's case had all kinds of holes in it. I had already beaten not one, but two police line-ups. Most of the evidence was entirely circumstantial evidence. So I felt really good about that and at least the possibility of a reasonable plea-bargain. I was called out for an attorney visit, which I had again, felt really good about. After talking with my public defender, it was obvious that the only thing on his mind was trying to negotiate a deal with the district attorney. That didn't sit well with me because I felt like I had the right to a fair trial, and since most of the evidence was circumstantial, I really wanted to go to trial. Once my public defender saw that I wanted to go to trial, he started pretending. Pretending that the district attorney had an open and shut case. Pretending that I committed the crime of the century, and if I didn't take the plea bargain, I would regret it later on. I asked my public defender what is the plea bargain offer from the district attorney. My public defender said that if I pled guilty, I would receive a 10-life sentnce and I would beeligable for parole in 10 years, plus the district attorney has the right to argue to have my two other cases to run consecutive to the 10-life sentence. I asked him what the right to argue means, and he said basically the district attorney would argue to have the judge run all your sentences consecutive to one another. This was a problme for me and it didn't sound like much of a deal at all. This deal went back and forth between me, all my public defender and the district attorney. At the time, I had already been incarcerated over a year on another unrelated case, so I stuck with my guns and went to trial. My public defender made a last effort to tell me to take the deal. I said, 'No, let's just go to trial, have you interviewed any witnesses in my defense yet?' He said, 'No.' I said 'well then let's go to trial.' So I went to trial and it lasted one day and the jury returned a guilty verdict in 15 minutes. My public defender made no objection and failed to challenge the state's case. A guilty verdict was a foregoing conclusion. During the trial, I had to make an objection because my public defender was ineffective. The judge asked me why I am making these objections during a trial and I simply told the judge that 'my attorney won't object to anything your honor, so I would like to object in order to preserve the issue on appeal, if I don't object or make an objection, I can't argue the issue on appeal.' So we continued and the judge noted all this for the record. I don't trust public defenders and this is why I took it upon myself to study the law in the law library. So I get sentenced and I receive the same exact sentence that I would have received if I pled guilty, 10 years to life with a parole eligibility date after I serve 10 years. The two other separate cases were also ran consecutive to this sentence. All my appeals were denied and I am finally on my LAST sentence and I will be out in 3 years. They were all as mad as hell that I didn't take that plea bargain. I just wanted a fair trial and I didn't see any sense in taking the deal. To make matters worse, this same guy who I won't name, somehow became a judge in miniciple court and had his law license suspended for some kind of misconduct with his clients, etc. He also had $8000 in unpaid parking tickets. He was a public pretender. He pretended that the state's case against me was strong, in order to trick me into taking a plea bargain. I've already got over of being mad at him, I was just curious of how many people he has done this to.
2016 apr 25
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2015 may 29
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2015 jan 13
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2015 jan 11
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2015 jan 10
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2015 jan 10
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Replies (4)
How can a lawyer that has 20-40x the case load be expected to represent well.
Also why do public defenders continuously get worse deals then private counsel.
Also why are the winning statistics different. Why do private counsel win substantially more then public defenders. I think it's a combination of: overworking, low pay, high pessimism, usually worse educated and younger then private lawyers etc etc. So The list is long.
So yes A defendant does get to feel betrayed if the public defender doesn't assist anywhere nearly as good as a private lawyer and doesn't even pretend to want to do so.