My husband's lawyer didn't appear for him in court yesterday

[Ritschala]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
South Dakota

Okay, on October 15, 2008 my husband was arrested for tampering with a motor vehicle and driving on a suspended license. (it's a long complicated story, most of which is irrelevant to my questions I think..).

His initial appearance date was November 24, 2008. Given the complicated situation surrounding his arrest, we found it best to hire an attorney. After making some calls, we settled on an attorney and agreed to meet with him on October 17, 2008. He said he would get a copy of the police report etc. and see what could be done to help my husband.
We had no contact with him after that until AFTER my husband's initial appearance. He didn't ask for a retainer. (I know, that should have been a red flag there, hindsight is 20/20 right?)

When my husband arrived at the courthouse for his scheduled appearace, his lawyer said hello to him, and that was it. He didn't say anything about what my husband should or could do, as a matter of fact he wasn't even there when my husband went into the courtroom. He had already left the building. Inside the court room, the judge asked my husband if the attorney was representing him, he said he was unsure because the attorney hadn't talked to him at all since the initial consult. The state's attorney offered him a plea bargain, if he would plead guilty to the tampering with a motor vehicle, they would drop the driving on a suspended charge. My husband did not accept the plea bargain, because he feels he is guilty of the driving on a suspended charge, and not guilty of the tampering. They set a trial date of January 12, 2009.

A couple of days later my husband recieved a letter from the attorney stating that the attorney had appeared on his behalf on November 24, 2008 and that the state's attorney had offered him a plea bargain. He described the plea bargain and asked that my husband call his office.

My husband did call the attorney's office later that day and told him that he did not accept the plea bargain, and told him of the trial date. The attorney said he would be contacting my husband as the trial date got closer.

Fast forward to January 2, 2009. After some gentle "nudging" from me, my husband called his attorney. His attorney agreed to meet with him on January 5, 2009. They briefly discussed what would go on at the next court date. The attorney told my husband that it was not necessary for him to attend court on January 12, because there wouldn't be any kind of trial where he would be needed. He told him that he would appear on his behalf and that my husband wouldn't even have to show up. He also told my husband he would require a small retainer fee of $100 by January 21, 2009.

Well, we have 10,000 other things going on, (we are in the process of moving.. husband training for a new job.. etc etc) so we were relieved to hear that my husband would not have to attend court. We made the bad (obviously..) choice to have him stay home and help with some packing instead, believing that the attorney would take care of everything.

Finally, my husband called the attorney today, to see what had happened with court yesterday. The attorney was on the phone when my husband called the office and his secretary said he would have the him return the call. It got to be after 5 p.m. and my husband started to worry so he put in another call to the attorney. He happened to catch him still at the office. He spoke with the attorney, told him he was calling to see what happened yesterday, and if/when he would need to be in court again. The attorney acted suprised that there was a court date yesterday. He told my husband he thought after he plead guilty to the driving on a suspended charge that he had taken care of anything else. He stated he was not aware there were any more court dates that he would have had to attend. He then told my husband not to go out and party and get into any trouble tonight and he would call the court in the morning and see what they say.

Basically, I just have a couple of broad questions. First off, what in the world do we do now besides the obvious of looking for a new attorney? Does my husband have a failure to appear charge now? Is there anything the lawyer can even do to help the situation now that no one showed up for court yesterday? Even though I didn't pay a retainer was he still my husband's attorney? I'm lost, confused, and worried.