Criminal Attorneys
Q.I was arrested at my own bank for "passing a counterfeit check". I never even endorsed this check. I took the check to the bank to inquire upon its validity. (I'm selling my piano online and I received the check in the mail from a buyer from out of the country, and I thought it wise to ask my bank for their opinion on the check.) Instead, my bank CALLED THE COPS when they found out it was counterfeit. The cops took me away to jail for TWO DAYS and TWO NIGHTS and it was the worst days of my life. I can't believe this. It tore me apart. Now my choice lies before me: I must defend myself in court with a public defender, or go hire a private attorney. What can I do???
A.I'm a general practice attorney who does a good bit of criminal work. Most of the public defenders I run in to know what they are doing. Some are excellent attorneys. The reality is that there are plenty of lawyers out there who will take your money who have nowhere near the expertise that many of these lowly public defenders have. Depending on where you live, there are probably at least a couple of private attorneys who have a good reputation when it comes to criminal cases. The problem is that these few private attorneys who get the big criminal cases will probably want to charge you more than you can afford. And to be quite honest with you, even though these guys may be outstanding criminal attorneys the fact of the matter is that they plead most of their cases out just like the public defender does. They'll charge you a hefty fee, cash up front, and then try to talking you into taking a deal the public defender could have gotten you. If I was facing serious charges, I would probably hire the best lawyer I could afford. But of course I couldn't come close to qualifying for a public defender. I could afford the best. If you qualify for the public defender, chances are you would end up having to hire a less proven attorney to handle your case. If I were in that position, I'd wait to see which public defender was appointed to represent me and then I'd do a little checking to see how good he is. If he's some drunken nut with a horrible reputation, I'd try to scrape up enough cash to hire a lawyer and I'd do my best to find a good one who has tried at least a couple of jury trials and done well on them. But if people like court bailiffs, police officers, and attorneys who don't handle criminal cases told me that this particular public defender is good, I'd stick with him. Do what you have to do. Just don't let some schmuck who doesn't know what he's doing snow you into paying him a few grand for worse representation than you would have gotten by the public defender. You might at least let them appoint a public defender to represent you and then find out if he's known to be pretty good or not. If not, then you can try to hire a private attorney with jury trial experience who has tried several criminal cases and won at least a few times. FYI, please note that over 95% of all criminal charges laid result in a conviction for some crime, even if it is often for a lesser crime(s) than the government originally sought to prosecute you on. More often than not, the best any criminal defense attorney can do is get you a better deal.
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