wrongful arrest

[brian360wa]

What is the name of your state (Washington) Hi I was falsely arrested and convicted you a class c felony. I can prove I was not the man involved in the crime and was arrested only because I was drunk in the area where the incident occurred. I was offered a deal of 1 year of alcohol treatment instead of the felony. I turned down the deal because I wanted to sue due to the time I spent in jail. I didn't believe they could convict me of the crime at a jury trial but they did. My public defender went above and beyond to not defend me at the trial and help the prosecutor and kept me in the dark about how she planned to defend me at trial. I was arrested for this incident around 2 in a haft years ago. And at this point my I have lost my appeal and have petitioned the higher court to review the appeals courts decision. Next step would be federal court. My question is if there is a time limit on when I can file a lawsuit. Ya and I don't have money at this time to hire a lawyer to file one. Is this something I can do on my own now and hire a lawyer later. How much would this cost to hire a lawyer to do. Because if there is a time limit I most likely need to file one soon as possible

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state (Washington) Hi I was falsely arrested and convicted you a class c felony. I can prove I was not the man involved in the crime and was arrested only because I was drunk in the area where the incident occurred. I was offered a deal of 1 year of alcohol treatment instead of the felony. I turned down the deal because I wanted to sue due to the time I spent in jail. I didn't believe they could convict me of the crime at a jury trial but they did. My public defender went above and beyond to not defend me at the trial and help the prosecutor and kept me in the dark about how she planned to defend me at trial. I was arrested for this incident around 2 in a haft years ago. And at this point my I have lost my appeal and have petitioned the higher court to review the appeals courts decision. Next step would be federal court. My question is if there is a time limit on when I can file a lawsuit. Ya and I don't have money at this time to hire a lawyer to file one. Is this something I can do on my own now and hire a lawyer later. How much would this cost to hire a lawyer to do. Because if there is a time limit I most likely need to file one soon as possible

Based just upon what you have posted here, I would suggest you hire an attorney.


BTW; What is 2 in haft?

 

[brian360wa]

mistype

years since I was arrested for the crime

 

[Silverplum]

I reported your three duplicate threads. One is enough.

 

[Just Blue]

years since I was arrested for the crime

As there in no such thing as "2 in a haft" ...I will "assume" you mean 2 and a half. 2 1/2.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (Washington) Hi I was falsely arrested and convicted you a class c felony. I can prove I was not the man involved in the crime and was arrested only because I was drunk in the area where the incident occurred. I was offered a deal of 1 year of alcohol treatment instead of the felony. I turned down the deal because I wanted to sue due to the time I spent in jail. I didn't believe they could convict me of the crime at a jury trial but they did. My public defender went above and beyond to not defend me at the trial and help the prosecutor and kept me in the dark about how she planned to defend me at trial. I was arrested for this incident around 2 in a haft years ago. And at this point my I have lost my appeal and have petitioned the higher court to review the appeals courts decision. Next step would be federal court. My question is if there is a time limit on when I can file a lawsuit. Ya and I don't have money at this time to hire a lawyer to file one. Is this something I can do on my own now and hire a lawyer later. How much would this cost to hire a lawyer to do. Because if there is a time limit I most likely need to file one soon as possible

Here is a link to information for you to read: http://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate-trial_courts/div1/caseproc/CaseProcguide.doc

Anyone can handle any legal matter on their own. It is just generally not smart to do so (although I understand that attorneys can be expensive).

Here is a link to the Washington State Bar Association's legal resource information: http://www.wsba.org/resources-and-services/find-legal-help

 

[Dave1952]

It would help if you would take your time and express yourself clearly.
Ok, here's what I think that you are saying. You were arrested 2 1/2 yrs ago. Some time after that you were convicted of a felony. You had a public defender. After this you filed an appeal. Your appeal was heard and the judgement was affirmed. You do not indicate why you appealed. You wish to continue the appeals process. It's not clear what you are basing your appeal on and you do not currently have a lawyer.
You wish to know what time limitations there are to filing your continuing appeals. Obviously a lawyer would be a help. Do you have access to a legal library? The librarian may be able to point you towards the answer.

 

[quincy]

It would help if you would take your time and express yourself clearly.
Ok, here's what I think that you are saying. You were arrested 2 1/2 yrs ago. Some time after that you were convicted of a felony. You had a public defender. After this you filed an appeal. Your appeal was heard and the judgement was affirmed. You do not indicate why you appealed. You wish to continue the appeals process. It's not clear what you are basing your appeal on and you do not currently have a lawyer.
You wish to know what time limitations there are to filing your continuing appeals. Obviously a lawyer would be a help. Do you have access to a legal library? The librarian may be able to point you towards the answer.

The handy-dandy link I provided to brian360wa has a timeline (along with information on the required forms and paperwork).

In other words, brian360wa has been pointed in the direction of the answer to his question, and he has also been pointed in the direction of legal assistance - which I think brian360wa will find especially helpful when he discovers it is not all that easy to do what he wants to do without an attorney to advise and direct.

 

[brian360wa]

thank you for replying

Ya sorry for not looking over and correcting my mistakes. I had a court appointed attorney for both my jury trial and my appeal. I filed the petition for review in the supreme court on my own which was very hard for me to do. I understand very few of these petitions get accepted like maybe 80 out of 3000 a year. So Federal court would most like be my next step. I understand for the Federal court needs new evidence and I would need to file a personal restraint petition. Which I would need a lawyer to help with. After my petition to the supreme court is accepted or most likely denied. I would have 2 years to file the personal restraint petition. Being on Social security disability,and unable to work at this time, I have found my self in a very bad situation. If I was able to hire my own attorney this would not have gone as far as it has my 100% sure of that fact. My attorney put the burden on the state so pretty much nothing was said to aid me at trial. My lawyer didn't say much at all or ask the right questions, and did nothing I had asked of her or see me weeks before the trial. Do you know of any programs that mite help a low income person on disability like myself?

 

[quincy]

... Do you know of any programs that mite help a low income person on disability like myself?

You can make use of the Bar Association link I provided to find assistance in your area.

Good luck, brian360wa.

 

[brian360wa]

Reply

You can make use of the Bar Association link I provided to find assistance in your area.

Good luck, brian360wa.

Yes I have tried clear and other options provided on that bar link. They don't help people in my situation with my kind of conviction or my kind of issues or lawsuits. Over the years I think I've call that clear line over 30 times never got to speak with anyone. The normal answer I get when I try to explain my situation to a lawyer, Is a referral to bar association. And the answer they are not able to take on a case like mine at this time.

 

[quincy]

Yes I have tried clear and other options provided on that bar link. They don't help people in my situation with my kind of conviction or my kind of issues or lawsuits. Over the years I think I've call that clear line over 30 times never got to speak with anyone. The normal answer I get when I try to explain my situation to a lawyer, Is a referral to bar association. And the answer they are not able to take on a case like mine at this time.

Do you have a law school in your area?

 

[brian360wa]

Reply

Ya most likely I live near Seattle, you think that is something I should look into? I contacted the ACLU several months back, and sent them all the information on my case, transcript of trial, police reports, written statements from the 3 witnesses taken like almost 2 months after my arrest, timeline info I got from bus company, Cencom recording from day I was arrested, appellant brief, the unpublished opinion from court of appeals, and the petition for review to the Supreme Court. But the response I got was they have limited resources, and I think they take case that involve groups of people more then cases like mine. Most people don't this far in the process of trying to overturn a wrongful conviction. So I'm really having a hard time

 

[quincy]

Ya most likely I live near Seattle, you think that is something I should look into? I contacted the ACLU several months back, and sent them all the information on my case, transcript of trial, police reports, written statements from the 3 witnesses taken like almost 2 months after my arrest, timeline info I got from bus company, Cencom recording from day I was arrested, appellant brief, the unpublished opinion from court of appeals, and the petition for review to the Supreme Court. But the response I got was they have limited resources, and I think they take case that involve groups of people more then cases like mine. Most people don't this far in the process of trying to overturn a wrongful conviction. So I'm really having a hard time

You are right that the ACLU has limited resources and they take on very few cases. You were smart to contact them, though.

I think a law school might be an option for you to consider, if you were unable to find help through the Bar Association. You could try Seattle University's School of Law. You can also contact large law firms in your area (like K&L Gates) and ask to be connected to their pro bono program representative. Most large firms require their attorneys to contribute up to 50 hours of pro bono service a year.

Good luck, brian360wa.