Can a prosecutor retaliate against you for reporting your defense att. for malpractic

[txstoby]

I believe that my attorney worked with the prosecution to ensure that his best friend would get a conviction. The actions that he advised me to do were supposed to get one set of results but when the prosecutor changed his mind, my situation changed dramatically. My attorney did not tell me that my consequences were going to be different and in fact strongly discouraged me from looking into an illegal search, even to the point of screaming at me for even suggesting it. As an example of his cooperation with the DA, he advised me to "cooperate" before he saw any evidence, before he reseached any laws, and he did so without any written proffer thus allowing the prosecutor to harshen the terms. He even sent me into the grand jury on the promise that the prosecutor was going to make a sympathetic statement on my behalf (because I jumped through several hoops at the prosecutor's request). His only preparation prior to entering the room was to "be honest, be humble, and be emotional, get the tears rolling". There were other statements that he made to me that were untrue that kept me from pursuing any investigation into the search. My new attorney tells me if I report my first attorney to the state bar, that I will face strong retaliation from the DA's office. Please advise.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Did you know prior that your attorney was best friends with the prosecutor? That alone doesn't mean anything but, if you knew it, why didn't you get another lawyer?

Your new attorney may be giving you honest advice. I would love to tell you more and am very sympathetic to your situation but I don't know all the facts. The real question is how much of a difference your previous attorney made in your case. If you were and are guilty it's difficult for a court to be sympathetic that you may have gotten off free. There are also questions of proof - e.g. "be honest, be humble" is not bad advice. You may not have gotten all the treatment you wanted but it wasn't clearly advice that was bad. You can see the difficulty here. I wish you luck but your second attorney might be in the best position to help you.