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Saturday, March 23, 2019

Are Court Appointed Lawyers Any Good?

It depends on the lawyer. In the Hill Country there are several excellent lawyers who regularly get appointed to defend indigent clients. They have knowledge, skill and judgment and zealously represent their clients.  They take pride in doing a good job. They know that judges, prosecutors and other lawyers are watching them. So are potential paying clients.

A lawyer who doesn't care or is incompetent can't practice very long before he or she gets into trouble with the courts or the grievance committee. Trial judges want lawyers who will provide effective assistance of counsel (required by the Constitution). No one wants to see an innocent person convicted. And by defending the guilty and making sure their constitutional rights are protected they help keep the system honest.

Most Hill Country court appointed lawyers also represent clients who retain them directly.

The federal courts require appointed lawyers to attend continuing legal education classes every year. They also have different levels of lawyers - the "A" list lawyers get the most serious felonies. There's a "B" list that gets appointed to misdemeanors and less serious felonies.


Thursday, March 21, 2019

Hire Us!! Award Winning Attorneys! Cases Dismissed! Biggest Criminal Law Firm in Texas!

If you are Google "Kerrville/Fredericksburg Criminal Defense Attorney" the first entry that comes up will be a paid ad. Chances are it will be for a law firm, we'll call it Dewey Cheatum & Howe, that claims to be one of the biggest criminal defense firms in Texas with 15 offices all over the state. They claim all sorts of award and have little emblems for them: The National TOP 100 Trial Lawyers, Newsweek Nationwide Top Attorneys, Voted Best Law Firm, Time Magazine 2013 Legal Leader, etc.  I and every lawyer I know gets solicited several times a week to be included in one of these "Super-Lawyers" or Best Lawyers lists. Just have to pay a hefty fee and you're in.

Their site strongly implies that a board certified criminal specialist will work your case. They have a long, long list - I mean pages and pages - of serious cases they claim they got dismissed, but give no details at all. BTW, all this violates State Bar advertising rules. For February this year they claim to have gotten almost 50 dismissals.

I have never heard of this "firm" before seeing their web ad. None of the lawyers I've asked in the Hill Country and San Antonio know them. If they were as big time and badass as they claim, don't you think other lawyers would know them or at least of them?

I am seriously pissed off about what, in my opinion, is misleading advertising, to put it politely. I happen to be board certified in two areas - criminal law and civil trial law, and I worked hard for almost 40 years to get to the level I'm at. I have friends and colleagues who are very qualified and capable lawyers - right here in Kerrville and Fredericksburg. A deceptive advertising campaign like this firm I'm talking about is unfair to us and to the people who are in the biggest trouble of their lives.

Before you hire a lawyer go to Lawyers.com and research them. Look for the 'av' rating, which indicates highest ethical standards and competence. And that's by the oldest, most respected ratings service in the country, Martindale-Hubbell, not some bogus award. 

Excuses and Things Criminal Defendants Tell Their Court Appointed Lawyers

Here are some of the things indigent criminal defendants tell their court appointed lawyers:

Children and Baby Mamas:

Inmate (I) : You have to get me out of jail so I can support my kids.
Lawyer (L): How many children you have?
I: Five.
L: Whose their mother?
I: For which one? The three year old baby mama is Janie. The middle two's baby mama is Susie. The youngest's is Mary.
L: Are you current on child support?
I (averting gaze): That's why you have to get me out of here.

But this is my first case:

I: It's not fair they want to send me to jail. This is my first case.
L: I'm looking at your criminal history and I see you did five years in California.
I: But that was not a drug case, that was a burglary.

They got no evidence:
I: They ain't got shit on me.
L: What about your wallet in the getaway card and your DNA on the mask one of the gunman wore?
I:  That don't prove shit.

I'm not a drug dealer:
I: I'm not a drug dealer.
L: But they found five grams of meth under your car seat, packaged to sell.
I:  I know, but I'm just an addict. I sell a little to my friends to pay for my own habit. That don't make me a drug dealer.

Not my pants, not my dope:
I: I ain't pleading guilty to something I didn't do.
L: But they found the meth in your front pocket.
I: Those weren't my jeans. I was staying with a buddy and put his on by accident.

But I only drank three beers:
I: I wasn't drunk. I swear on my mother/grandmother/baby son/daughter I only had three beers.
L: But the lab test showed you had THC, vicodin, and oxycontin in your blood.
I: But my ol' lady researched it on Google and it says they have to prove you had .08 alcohol in your blood stream.

But I didn't molest a kid:
I: It's not fair. It's not like I was molesting little kids or nothing.
L: But they found 500 child porn images and video on your computer.
I: I swear to God I didn't know it was there. Someone hacked it.

But she told me she was 19:
I: I didn't know she was only 15.
L: Doesn't matter. Ignorance is not a defense.
I: But she led me on. She was very mature. This wasn't her first rodeo.

Other things they say:

I've being going to Bible study and reading my Bible (showing lawyer dog eared Bible)

I didn't stab her. I was just fooling around with a knife and she stumbled into it.

My last lawyer sold me down the river.

My court appointed lawyer forced me to plead guilty.

I need a lawyer who believes I'm innocent and will fight for me (from defendant who is on video assaulting store clerk and stealing money and confessed)

Things they tell their lawyers to do:

I want you to tell that judge/DA to dismiss this case.

There's a law firm in San Antonio that can get this charge dismissed. Why can't you?

I want you to tell the judge to transfer my case to another county. The prosecutors and juries here are too mean.

I came to Kerrville from Detroit/California/New York because I heard it's got a good recovery community. That turned out to be a crock of shit!

From Amy Winehouse: I don't want to go to rehab, no no no !!!