Public Defender is not doing his job- what can we do?

[blynch]

My brother has been in jail since he was arrested. His court date was September 18. First, the lawyer was late to court, my brother's case had to be held until he arrived. When he finally arrived, the DA and attorney agreed on a plea bargain which includes Drug Court, basically a very strict probation. After court, the lawyer called my mother and told her he still had a bond, but after he, the lawyer, filled out the evalutation and sent it to the judge my brother would be released on a PR bond, not to bond him out. He said he would be out within a week. After it had been more than a week, my mother called the public defender who told her that he was waiting on the judge to sign the evalutation, my brother would be out in 48 hours. Approximately 2 weeks after 18th, my mother went to the courthouse to ask them what was going on. The Clerk told her that the lawyer had not put it on the docket for the judge; therefore, it couldn't be signed and the lawyer wasn't doing what he was supposed to. Mom called the lawyer repeatedly, he had not been returning her calls. When she finally reached him, she asked him why it hadn't been on the docket. The lawyer was just being sarcastic and said she was the one to put him there. Yes, he stole from her, but he's done everything he was supposed to, he's supposed to be out. She told the lawyer she wanted him to get a bond reduction. He was rude about it stating that he's not going to court to get a bond reduction, why can't she come up with 500 dollars. In the meantime, my brother is in jail and my mother is being torn apart. What can we do to fix this situation?

 

[raskalnikov]

Tell him you'll be filing a grievance with the State Bar for malpractice. If this doesn't get his attention he's in the upper echelons of idiot.

 

[raskalnikov]

Oh, and of course, find out who his boss is and demand a different attorney due to malpractice.

For the grievance, be sure to file everything that he has done, including taking a long time to answer phone calls, refusal to do what promised and all attorneys should do, etc.