Lawyer no show in court-warrant issued

[tbud333]

What is the name of your state? California. My son is currently dealing with his 1st DUI charge so I hired a lawyer. Got notice from his office that next scheduled appearance in court is on 12-28-07. no need to appear, lawyer will appear for him. I was on the internet last night and just happened to check a site listing public court records and found out that my son has a count #3 added to his charges and a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court on 12-14-07. I called the law office first thing this morning to bring it to their attention. Said they would get back to me, but have not. My question is, is this going to screw up any plea bargain or chance my son has to get penalties reduced?
Has this happened to anyone else?

[CdwJava]

If the attorney's office fouled up, generally the attorney takes the hit for that (tongue lashing from the bench) and not the defendant.

It all depends on what happened.

- Carl

[fagettaboutit]

Originally Posted by tbud333

What is the name of your state? California. My son is currently dealing with his 1st DUI charge so I hired a lawyer. Got notice from his office that next scheduled appearance in court is on 12-28-07. no need to appear, lawyer will appear for him. I was on the internet last night and just happened to check a site listing public court records and found out that my son has a count #3 added to his charges and a warrant for his arrest for failure to appear in court on 12-14-07. I called the law office first thing this morning to bring it to their attention. Said they would get back to me, but have not. My question is, is this going to screw up any plea bargain or chance my son has to get penalties reduced?
Has this happened to anyone else?

First of all you need to deal with this "warrant for his arrest" immediately. Call your local court to find out where to bring your son. If you need to bring your son anywhere, your son should NOT answer any questions pertaining to his case. He can explain that he currently no longer has an attorney and therefore requests council before answering any questions.

Secondly, fire this lawyer by a certificated written letter (be sure to pay extra postage for a "signature request" too). Within this letter, include a copy of the written notice they sent you regarding your son's need not to show up. This would also be a good time to include in your letter a request a full refund for any monies paid.

Then, immediately send a letter to the courts explaining that you have fired the current lawyer hired for your son's case. This should also include a copy of the letter you sent to the lawyer along with a copy of the notice you received from the lawyer's office regarding the scheduled apperance. Again, pay for extra postage for a signature request. And it's also good to include a "CC" at the end of the letter because you should send a copy to the lawyer's office just fired.

Now as soon as you can, hire a lawyer who is well-schooled in DUI laws. I'd suggest you check out the ncdd.com website for lawyers who have taken the time to learn about DUI laws.

You may also want to consider while writing these letters, include your son in the process. I don't know how old he is, but you can't continue to do all this hard work to protect him his whole life. He was, afterall, the one charged with a crime, it might be a really good time to cut the apron strings and let him deal with it too.

Has this happened to anyone else?

It does happen quite often with lawyers who take cases their clearly not qualified to handle. DUI defense tends to be more complex than even murder defense. One should never hire a lawyer who doesn't understand the complexities of DUI laws in the same manner you wouldn't hire a lawyer who handles cases involving medical fraud to defend tax evasion. Unfortuantely too many lawyers think they can defend cases they're clearly not trained to handle. This happens all in the name of money. Hence, the term ambulance chaser

Good luck

[CdwJava]

Well, first we have to find out why the date was missed and whose fault it was. Knowing the age of the "son" would help, too. if the son is 18+ then HE needs to deal with the attorney. Even if dad is paying for the attorney, his client is still the son.

The fault MAY not lie with the attorney here ... it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the son messed something up and is now blaming it on the attorney to cover himself with dad. However, it is also equally possible that the attorney messed it up. From personal experience, it's usually the client's misunderstanding and not the attorney's, but I have seen the attorneys mess it up a few times, too.

- Carl

[garrula lingua]

He was cited to appear in court. He should have appeared - it is part of the 'learning experience' of a DUI.
Going thru the process is the best assurance that the person will NOT reoffend.

The lawyer is not 'the atty of record' until the first court appearance.
If you haven't paid the atty, in full, then s/he was not obligated to appear.
Is there a letter telling your son not to appear ? or was it verbal ?

Why is Mom/Dad hiring the atty ? Son told 'it's OK, no need to appear ?

Stop coddling.

Have him get his sorry butt to that court ASAP.
HIS butt - not yours & not the atty's.
He will have to explain (HE - not you, not the atty). The Judge can throw his butt in jail.
He must bring any proof he has regarding being told not to appear.

If he calls the atty, the atty may be able to straighten this out with a phone call. And sometimes (often) attys call in continuances and some courts will issue and hold a bench warrent until the next appearance date. As there is another date scheduled (12/28) the court clerk may have, mistakenly, issued the bench warrent instead of holding it.
If so, no big deal.

How many times will most people have to appear in court ????
Hopefully, only a very few times.
THEY SHOULD APPEAR IN COURT, especially for the first appearance (it's good for him).
....When, is son going to MEET his atty ?
Why are you running interference for him ?

Besides, it makes you law-abiding and apprehensive about marriage (good attributes).

[fagettaboutit]

Originally Posted by garrula lingua

Is there a letter telling your son not to appear ? or was it verbal ?

OP stated:

Got notice from his office that next scheduled appearance in court is on 12-28-07. no need to appear, lawyer will appear for him

As there is another date scheduled (12/28) the court clerk may have, mistakenly, issued the bench warrent instead of holding it.

OP stated:
I called the law office first thing this morning to bring it to their attention. Said they would get back to me, but have not.

Some times it helps when you actually read the the OP's post.

[CdwJava]

Originally Posted by fagettaboutit

OP stated:

Got notice from his office that next scheduled appearance in court is on 12-28-07. no need to appear, lawyer will appear for him

"Notice" can be either written OR verbal ... it was still important to know as it goes back to assigning fault for the FTA. If verbal, perhaps the OP misunderstood.

OP stated:
I called the law office first thing this morning to bring it to their attention. Said they would get back to me, but have not.

That does not address the point about the possibility of the court clerk causing the error.

Some times it helps when you actually read the the OP's post.

The "facts" were fuzzy and unclear, that is not Garrula's fault. She was asking for clarification, and providing a possible explanation. Both of which are still valid in spite of your commentary.

- Carl

[CdwJava]

My questions:

WHAT are the three counts? What statutes are alleged to have been violated?

Could this mystery count #3 be a prior offense for which he was on formal or informal probation? Very often THAT old charge comes back to life when a new offense is charged.

- Carl

[tbud333]

Everything is in writing. There was no third count before the added failure to appear. The ball was in the lawyers hand and he did not show. My son is 22. the first two charges are for Dui and driving above 0.8 bac. License was suspended through the DMV hearing and just got another notice from DMV stating it has been suspended again because of the failure to appear. The lawyer will have to clear that up as well.