Does this equal Ineffective Assistance of Counsel ?

[blowngasket]

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

I had a friend help me defending me pro bono in a Misdemeanor 1 case. (M1)
(theft by deception)

The 'victims' lied on their complaints and I was hopeful that I would easily be found guilty and could turn around and file complaints against them for lying.

I DID NT understand that an M1 is a felony ! Me, a convicted felon.
Im in my 30s and never arrested before this.

He emailed the plea deal to the wrong email address and when we went to talk to the prosecutor she withdrew the offer while talking to him before I got a chance to say yes or no (he said something that made her angry suddenly. )
I wouldve only had to deal with an M3 charge (and now that Im better informed, i would have taken an alford plea)


He acted like the case against me was silly and he didn't do work prepping for ... The 'victims' contradicted themselves on the witness stand for the preliminary hearing and in their criminal complaints and then on witness stand.

One of the 'victims' cyber bullied me by proxy online before trial and he said that wouldn't help my case.

I was still worried and asked him to call witnesses and also use certain emails and letters as evidence.

On day of trial there was only two parts to my defense.

My lawyer put me on the witness stand (something I DIDNT think was a good idea and kept voicing beforehand)
and he did cross examine the witnesses, but not with questions we agreed to beforehand.

He told me to ask for a bench trial because that would make the prosecutor 'happier'.

Anyway, long story short, but I now see that my two witnesses (former tenants) and also 2 emails were KEY to proving my innocence.

Im due for sentencing soon and am very paranoid and sad. One of the witnesses or their friends is spreading my conviction online and im very frantic.

Is it ineffective counsel to not present ANY witnesses or exhibits ? Especially when the defendent/client asks for it ?
thanks

 

[FlyingRon]

You went pro se. Unless your friend is a lawyer, he wasn't pro bono anything either an idiot giving advice or practicing law without a license.

An M1 isn't a felony as far as PA is concerned, but since the definition varies from state to state (some states don't even have felony vs. misdemeanors as classes), overall anything with a potential prison sentence of over a year is treated as a "felony" (and the feds use this definition for things like gun laws).

You don't plead (or allow yourself to be found) guilty and then file complaints about lying witnesses. You have to prevent your defense in court.

You don't email pleas. You have both preliminary hearings and preliminary arraignments. THen a real arraignment where you indicate how you intend to plea/proceed and then a real trial.

Unless the prosecutor has a deal on the table (and that is going to be in writing with the judges concurrence), you don't have to worry about making that man happy. Finding you guilty and having your butt removed from society is what makes him happy.


Other criminal activity by the witnesses don't exculpate you from the stealing from them.

An Alford plea is the same as pleading guilty as far as the criminal proceedings are concerned.

Is your friend a lawyer? Frankly, did you condider ARD? Is there some special circumstance that the DA is predisposed to not be lenient).

A M1 with a clean record is likely to get you probation and you'll pay substantial costs (several thousand dollars) but they'll let you string that out for years on the repayment.

I would call the county bar association in which you were convicted and talk to a lawyer there (even if you must pay him a few hundred bucks) and figure out if there is anything he can salvage out of this disaster, but frankly, the larger pictures says you're screwed.

Which court was this?

 

[CavemanLawyer]

I don't see where this person said they represented themself. I guess ya'll are looking at the phrase pro bono and reading it as pro se? I have to assume that the person that represented you was a licensed attorney. There's no way the two of you would make it through a trial if that wasn't the case.

As far as ineffective, its a high burden to meet. There is a presumption that whatever an attorney does is his/her trial strategy, so it is hard to show that failure to do this or that made them ineffective. Afterall, had he/she done something else the results could have been much worse, and sometimes you are going to be found guilty no matter what your attorney does. As far as how the actual trial was conducted I can tell you this much, after sentencing you are going to need to give notice of appeal and request a new trial. The motion for new trial will be set for a hearing and it undoubtedly will be denied but the point of the hearing is just to develop the record for your appeal. The attorney will either need to submit an affidavit or testify about why he did what he did and why he chose to not call certain witnesses and/or present certain evidence. It will be the job of your appellate attorney to develop why these were bad choices, or (hopefully in your case) develop that this attorney just neglected to even consider presenting such evidence. There is no way possible to determine whether what your attorney did or didn't do in trial is ineffective. It is far too case specific.

As for the breakdown in the plea process however, there is some precedent here that suggests that it is ineffective to fail to present a plea bargain offer to the client until after the offer gets revoked by the state, IF the client would have taken that offer rather than go to trial. It does sound like you were presented with the offer prior to your court setting and a prosecutor has the discretion to revoke an offer at any time prior to its acceptance, and in some cases can revoke it anytime up until the actual plea. I'm not sure that your situation falls into this narrow category of ineffectiveness, but this is something else that would need to be developed in the motion for new trial.

I guess just hope that your appellate attorney does a better job than your trial attorney.

 

[FlyingRon]

I wrestled with exactly what is going on here.

The supposed "friend" is either:

1. Not a lawyer.
2. Incompentent
3. ...or failed to explain what is going on to the original poster.

I can't tell which, and he's not come back to answer the questions.
The whole thing he relates is not how criminal procedure works in PA. This is what has me thinking we're either not getting the proper story, or that there's no real legal counsel in this.

 

[blowngasket]

I wrestled with exactly what is going on here.

The supposed "friend" is either:

1. Not a lawyer.
2. Incompentent
3. ...or failed to explain what is going on to the original poster.

I can't tell which, and he's not come back to answer the questions.
The whole thing he relates is not how criminal procedure works in PA. This is what has me thinking we're either not getting the proper story, or that there's no real legal counsel in this.

An Ivy league trained, practicing lawyer represented me, but is primarily an overburdened Federal lawyer who didn't have much time for my case.