2 years to get a pre-lim Justice System, Police, Courts

What do you mean by "5 amended police reports"? Do you mean the same report was CHANGED five times? Or, there were supplements or follow-up reports added tothe original reports 4 times? Or, something else?

And what sort of questions did the judge shoot down?

Understand that a preliminary hearing is a hearing to determine if there is sufficient probable cause to bring a felony to trial. Many motions and other actions should be taken before or after the prelim, so it could be that the actions by your attorney were being made at an improper time.

A preliminary hearing is heard only once. The judges rotating on and off that particular bench should have had little to no bearing on the matter unless you had numerous motions being heard and each being heard by different judges.

If the matter was continued for 2 years, then it was likely done so with at least partial complicity on the part of your attorney(s). They could have objected and pushed for the matter to move forward.

And, apparently a judge read the report and heard the testimony and stiull bound the matter over for trial.

Ah, so, continuing the case for two years provided this attorney more billable hours. In other words, he was being paid to keep the matter going. I am sure he got paid for each motion, consultation, and filing he made. Of course he had an incentive to overplay his hand and offer you, perhaps, greater hope than might have been reasonably expected.

What does your new attorney have to say about your chances?

What do you mean by "only one of us?" Is this a case with multiple defendants? If so, that might also explain the time delay to get to a preliminary hearing. Especially if you were all being represented by the same attorney. Quite frankly, if there are multiple defendants, it is probably unwise for all of you to be represented by one attorney as it is possible that one or more of the defendants might want to work out a deal where they will agree to roll over on their companions in exchange for a deal. Your interests may not all lie in the same direction so you each need your own counsel.

 

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stupid, stupid, stupid me....

 

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posted in error and stupidity by me. LOL

 

The long delay has to do with your agreeing to waive time. You could have this all over with long ago if you wanted.

 

It is generally unlawful; to AMEND a report (i.e. actually CHANGE it once it has been filed, approved, and submitted to the court). Supplements to APPEND, yes - actual edits to the original report, no. I'd be very curious to know what agency would permit such a thing and what DA and court would allow it! I suspect that what you are seeing are appended reports, not amended. (i.e. reports that have been added to but not altered from the original)

However, depending on the nature of the offense, it is possible that you had preliminary reports of some kind and THOSE might be permitted to be amended.

The prelim is about whether or not there is probable cause to hold you over on the charges, it is not about fishing for other things. That can be done at trial if relevant, or as part of different motions (such as suppression hearings, etc.).

Perhaps it is time to deal.

 

If the matter is bound over for trial, then the next step is ... trial. There can be motions and other actions before then, but the matter goes to trial unless there is a plea deal.

 

You say "these reports" as in plural. WHAT sort of reports are we talking about here?

What did your attorney say about these "amended" reports?

 

Without revealing personal information that could identify you or any of your alleged cohorts, please tell us the facts of the case. That is to say, what caused you and your pals to be arrested, where you were arrested, and what you were originally alleged to have done.

One of your pals may be a rat, or has agreed to snitch you or the others out.
Some of you may have been set up.
Think about things before this went down, and how this has tracked for two years.
You do know about wires, right?
Wires can be used to do wonderful things.
Let's ignore that for now.
But, it's best to sever any remaining ties.

Be advised, most PDS are very good.
You just have to know how to approach them.
Get on their right side, and they can make magic.
Know this, the PDS I know, hate to lose.
That can be leveraged to your advantage.

Please tell us the prior criminal history of each person arrested.
You can refer to the players as player 1, player 2, or P1, P2, etc...
At the time of the arrest, were any players on probation or parole?

You do that, we might be able to tell you how this could shake out, and what actions are still available to you.

Moose and Java know many things.
Absorb their wisdom.
They'll school you.

Okay, read this article. It lays out the prelim in California.
By the way, these guys are well respected among the defense bar.

http://www.shouselaw.com/preliminary-hearing.html

 

Anyone is capable of lying or making a deal. However, for him to sell his clients down the river with the complicity of the DA and the police would require a rather broad conspiracy. Conspiracies are difficult to keep secret, and keeping one with three or more people of diverse backgrounds is even tougher as they would all have to have a corrupted sense of ethical responsibility. Although, the police do not deal with defense attorneys, so the chances of him making any kind of a "deal" with the cops is slim to none. And I am still scratching my head at this whole amended report idea ... something is off about that one.

A connected attorney is likely to socialize with other attorneys and judges. In some communities it is unavoidable. Those connections can also benefit their clients as it might give them access and influence where they might otherwise have no hope to sell a deal or idea.

Ultimately, if you do not like or trust your attorney, you need your own. As has been mentioned a couple of times, each of you really needs your own attorneys as your interests are NOT all the same. Each of you has their own needs from this and each of you may have their own reasons to seek a plea deal and even roll over on the others. Certainly you can always refuse to do so, but, if a guy has the option of diversion if he pleads to possession and points the sales finger at someone else, he might have no real incentive to hold out and risk suffering prison time for a sales charge he was not involved in. It's very likely that at least one of your cohorts will not be willing to suffer a stiffer penalty just for solidarity, ergo, he (maybe it's you) might need his or her own attorney in order to seek the best option for their particular circumstance.