Case got lost in system for 3 years
stephenk: "After much effort and time I finally got a judge to appoint council for me for my appeal."
*** It is unusual for an appellant to get a public (taxpayer provided) attorney. Did you file 'in forma pauperis'?? Are you sure that this attorney was assigned to assist your case, or was he/she asked to review it for merit??
If you can not afford an attorney in PA, even on appeal. One will be appointed to you. Title 42 PA: Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Peo se 123 to Stephenk: I know this because I called her back after she informed me that she was
sending my appeal back to the Superior Court for being frivolous. I called her and asked her what she based her opinion on and she told me that she had glanced over the lower court Judges Opinion and saw one of the things mentioned by the judge and decided then that my case was frivolous. I asked her if she had read the notes of testimony from the GP or if she had read the docketing statement covering the case from beginning to end. She told me that she hadn’t had a chance to look at the case file yet but is waiting for it to arrive. She obtained a copy of the trial court Judges Opinion from the Clerk of Courts (Lower Court). This is what she had glanced at, but did not read. The truth then is that she presumed my case to be frivolous without ever looking at the information in my case file. She made an assumption based on here say and didn’t even make the effort to find out what the facts are. I went to her office
(Public defenders Office) before I filed my appeal and requested their services. When speaking with an attorney there another attorney interrupted our conversation and told me that no one in her office will ever represent me, in my appeal. I come to find out that she is the same person ordered to represent me by the Judge. If this is not proof of her predisposed plan not to represent me than I don’t know what is. Besides the fact that she is acting like the opposition attorney who in her brief made derogatory (almost slanderous) remarks about my case. Yes I did send in a motion for assistance of council.
Peo se 123 to Stephenk: I would like to briefly discuss the facts and specifics of my case with you. I am an informed individual and I do have knowledge of and access to Criminal Procedure in PA including the rules of Appellate Procedure. However; there are many things involved with the law and how it is interpreted that I don’t know and it’ll take me more time than I have to find all these things out. I did find out what to do about the Court Appointed Attorney who is not performing her duty as my council and I am doing it. I have a slight problem with making everything about my case so public, plus most of the time the feedback I get is mostly someone’s personal opinion and not very helpful at all. I won’t take much of your time at all, in fact you can dictate how much time, if any, you want to spend in E-mail conversation with me. Would you mind creating a free E-mail account, so that I can better explain to you what’s actually happening with my case and be able to ask you (Short but direct) a question or possible two? It’s fairly easy to do; either go to the msn.com web site and click on hotmail or you can go to:
www.hotmail.com and create a Microsoft Passport ID and Password for yourself; which is then your hotmail address and you’re personal E-Mail account, it’s all free. The you can either send your hotmail account address to me at
[email protected] or just post it in your response at freeadvice.com.
As you know PA is no longer a Grand Jury state.
Peo se 123 to Stephenk: I don’t believe your understanding me correctly. Or possible I’d didn’t communicate my thoughts correctly or accurately when I asked in the forum if there is anything I can do (about this situation) Which to me is asking if there is anything I can do to protect myself against such attorney’s who act in an inappropriate manner while being negligent in her actions and not performing her duty as my court appointed attorney. I wasn’t asking if the forum could act collectively or on an individual basis and act on my behalf. I was simply asking what I can do (legally) if I am put in this type of situation. (Which I was/am). There are things that someone in my position can do. No one has to take this type of abuse from anyone, attorney or not.
Peo se 123: She is a court appointed attorney that is a Public Defender, assigned to me to assist me with my appeal. Or to act as my defense attorney.
Peo se 123 to Stephenk: There are more than one issue’s that account for the basis for my appeal. I am challenging the Guilty Plea on the basis that it was not entered into knowingly, voluntarily etc. Because of defects in the guilty plea itself. **My appeal is indeed with merit** I wouldn’t waste my time unless I was certain of this.
Another reason is that there was a 3 year delay after the GP (verdict) and the date of sentencing that was not due to a continuance requested by the defense. Where the defendant did suffer prejudice as a result.
There are 2 other merit filled reasons for my appeal, I am not going to go into detail, over the internet but I would be more than happy to say so via E-mail. If I wasn’t as specific as I needed to be in my earlier postings then I do apologize, I hope that this is self explanatory.
I don’t feel as though there was nothing that the forum could do to help me, I believe that my questions were clear and to the point. That was my intention anyway. Thank You.
{I received her message telling me that she is refusing to work on my case and is}
me a few days after she was appointed to be my Legal Council and told me that my case
"She says she will send notice to Superior Court that she will not work on my appeal."
*** Okay."Can someone tell me please, Is anything that I can do, legally?"
*** No one on this forum can answer you with any accuracy, since it is not clear what your basis for appeal is, much less whether it is valid.
"What she is doing is very, very wrong and will hurt my chances of winning this appeal very much."
*** Only if you have a basis for appeal in the first place. If you have no basis, her statements will not affect the court. "But more than that, I need a lawyer and now I don’t feel as though she will be helpful to me, even if I find a way to have her work on my appeal. I feel she will be prejudice and hurt my case more than help it. Can someone please help me? Will someone please tell me what I can do? Please. Time is of the essence. Thank You."*** Unless there is a PA attorney on the forum (and there isn't), there really isn't {anything that the forum can do for you. Any legal services you would require would need to be local.}
"This is very important to me and I have enough evidence to win my appeal."
*** What is the basis of your appeal?? Believe it or not, evidence alone doesn't determine the rights or success of an appeal.
"The lawyer called me and informed me that she is not working on my appeal at all, but will send a letter to the Superior Court stating that my appeal is frivolous. This is before she spoke to me at all about it. I went through all the legal channels to attain representation and was faced with many obstacles but after pursuing this diligently I finally was appointed a lawyer."
*** See above.
"She is being very ignorant and won’t even speak with me. She claims my appeal is frivolous but hasn't taken the time to look at my case other than the docketing info."
*** How do you know that?? At the very least she has reviewed the case file and, assuming you have already filed some documents on your 'appeal', she would have read those also. It would not be unreasonable for her to determine the merit of your claim(s) simply by reviewing the documents.
