mistermark3807
New Member
I am very unhappy w/ my atty & the way he represented me, I've never used this site, but thought someone here could give me some advice on my current situation. To sum up my case: My fiance was attacked by 2 drunk random females, I tried to break things up in her defense & was jumped on from behind by a male from the other party. We were wrestling on the floor when police showed up. One cop spurred me from behind to break things up and hit his forehead on the back of my head and he got a cut. I was arrested for disorderly conduct and told to cool off and I would get out in a couple of hrs but I was kept in jail all night and later I was told that they adde on the charge of assulting a peace officer.
I really was just defending my soon2be wife & in no way was in the wrong. Im a nerdy bookeeper and have never been in a fight in my life. I have a clear record & I was sure this was a mistake and that I had a good case. But my atty's attitude towards my case was the total opposite. At 1st he said he could help me, charged me 1500. retainer + add'l fees for any further work. But once I paid the retainer, he didnt even try. There was no other witnesses other than my fiance and I, so I told him to put me on the stand and i'll testify cuz we were the victims. But he kept saying the facts were against me, the cops are trained to testify and the jury is going to believe them so I should just plea guilty and avoid a jury cuz I could be locked up for 2-10yrs.. I insisted I was innocent, but he never fought for me, just kept urging me to take a plea bargain so we didnt have to go to trial. My mentality was, why say im guilty, if i know that im not. So I even drafted up about 11 diff points I came up w/ so that he could use to defend us.. and i went out and interviewed people who lived in the apts. where the assult took place. I also took pictures of the scene and thats cuz im not even the atty. Thats what i was paying him for!!!
Anyway, he just kept filing a motion for continuance like 4 diff. times and random motions that kept pushing the trial date back. I knew he wasnt goin to help me so by Gods grace, it turns out my mother knew a friend of the D.A & she met w/ him and pleaded my case. Turns out it worked and he was able to bring it down to 3 mo. probation w/ deffered adjudication. Supposeble it will come off my record if I just do follow probation for 3 months. Anyway, what really gets me is that I wasnt allowed to tell my atty we spoke w/ the prosecution, so my atty thinks it was his negotiations that got me that deal, but he didnt do anything!
So I finally got a final bill and he charged me additional 2,500.00 in extra fees on top of the retainer. He charged me 100.00 for EVERY motion (ex. motion for discovery, motion for probation, motion for a witness list.. ) He also charged me for "research on file for discovery", "research on motion for probation" etc. Shouldnt he already know his stuff? This is his job, why am I paying him to learn? He also filed sepinas against 3 police officers The bill said his assistant took 1 hour to draft up each sepina @ 100/per hr. So I have to pay 300 bux for 3 sepinas .(which btw, never got served because supposebly the 3 cops were all on vacation and couldnt be found).. Now im not stupid, all the 3 sepinas are exactly the same , the only thing that changes is the names of the officers. So I understand it took 1 hr. to draft the 1st sepina, but the other 2 didnt take an hr. each.
Lastly, he also charged me for every call he made to me. Even when he left me a message, I am being billed for that also. I think this is outrageous. Now Ive never been in trouble or dealt w/ lawyers, so maybe this is normal, but I think its crazy how he is charging me. Shouldnt a criminal case be a flat rate.. just a certain price up front? I know my co-worker had got arrested for DWI & possesion of cocaine charges and he was charged a flat rate of 2800.00 for both. I only had one and im being charged 4,000.
Is there anything i can do, or is this legit? Im bearly making it & only agreed to go w/ him thinking 1500.00 was the bulk of the amt, and i'd only have to pay a little more in add'l fees.... Not another 2500.00. What can I do if i cant come up w/ this money? Can I go to jail? I really need some sorta advice on what my options are. Please help..
I really was just defending my soon2be wife & in no way was in the wrong. Im a nerdy bookeeper and have never been in a fight in my life. I have a clear record & I was sure this was a mistake and that I had a good case. But my atty's attitude towards my case was the total opposite. At 1st he said he could help me, charged me 1500. retainer + add'l fees for any further work. But once I paid the retainer, he didnt even try. There was no other witnesses other than my fiance and I, so I told him to put me on the stand and i'll testify cuz we were the victims. But he kept saying the facts were against me, the cops are trained to testify and the jury is going to believe them so I should just plea guilty and avoid a jury cuz I could be locked up for 2-10yrs.. I insisted I was innocent, but he never fought for me, just kept urging me to take a plea bargain so we didnt have to go to trial. My mentality was, why say im guilty, if i know that im not. So I even drafted up about 11 diff points I came up w/ so that he could use to defend us.. and i went out and interviewed people who lived in the apts. where the assult took place. I also took pictures of the scene and thats cuz im not even the atty. Thats what i was paying him for!!!
Anyway, he just kept filing a motion for continuance like 4 diff. times and random motions that kept pushing the trial date back. I knew he wasnt goin to help me so by Gods grace, it turns out my mother knew a friend of the D.A & she met w/ him and pleaded my case. Turns out it worked and he was able to bring it down to 3 mo. probation w/ deffered adjudication. Supposeble it will come off my record if I just do follow probation for 3 months. Anyway, what really gets me is that I wasnt allowed to tell my atty we spoke w/ the prosecution, so my atty thinks it was his negotiations that got me that deal, but he didnt do anything!
So I finally got a final bill and he charged me additional 2,500.00 in extra fees on top of the retainer. He charged me 100.00 for EVERY motion (ex. motion for discovery, motion for probation, motion for a witness list.. ) He also charged me for "research on file for discovery", "research on motion for probation" etc. Shouldnt he already know his stuff? This is his job, why am I paying him to learn? He also filed sepinas against 3 police officers The bill said his assistant took 1 hour to draft up each sepina @ 100/per hr. So I have to pay 300 bux for 3 sepinas .(which btw, never got served because supposebly the 3 cops were all on vacation and couldnt be found).. Now im not stupid, all the 3 sepinas are exactly the same , the only thing that changes is the names of the officers. So I understand it took 1 hr. to draft the 1st sepina, but the other 2 didnt take an hr. each.
Lastly, he also charged me for every call he made to me. Even when he left me a message, I am being billed for that also. I think this is outrageous. Now Ive never been in trouble or dealt w/ lawyers, so maybe this is normal, but I think its crazy how he is charging me. Shouldnt a criminal case be a flat rate.. just a certain price up front? I know my co-worker had got arrested for DWI & possesion of cocaine charges and he was charged a flat rate of 2800.00 for both. I only had one and im being charged 4,000.
Is there anything i can do, or is this legit? Im bearly making it & only agreed to go w/ him thinking 1500.00 was the bulk of the amt, and i'd only have to pay a little more in add'l fees.... Not another 2500.00. What can I do if i cant come up w/ this money? Can I go to jail? I really need some sorta advice on what my options are. Please help..
