jillaport said:
i dnon't really want to discuss his case in general but shouldn't this attoney be applying for a reduction in bail and also file for a speedy trial. My understanding is this does not kick in until he has filed the appropriate papers. I quess I am nieve in what really takes place. Never have had to deal with anything like this. If we feel that the public defender is not doing his job is there any way to get someone else appointed.
Let me tell you how it works in the real world. If your son has a court-appointed attorney, it is because he is an indigent. An indigent is a person who is too poor to afford to hire an attorney and so an attorney had been appointed to represent the accused. If an inmate has the money to post bond, then he has the money to hire an attorney and an increasing number of judges and prosecutors see it that way.
Now on to speedy trial. As I pointed out earlier, the longest dockets are the criminal dockets--both the guilty plea docket and the criminal trial docket. Here is the priority: criminal cases take priority over civil cases. Criminal cases in which the defendants are currently in jail take priority over cases where the defendant is out on bond. For obvious reasons, the defendant out on bail does not have the motivation for speedy trial that the defendant in jail has and the United States Supreme Court as so held.
Additionally, the United States Supreme Court has held that while the criminally accused has a right to an attorney, the defendant does not have the right to a "meaningful relationship" with the attorney. The accused who has a court-appointed attorney is not entitled to select the attorney of his choice as the defendant who hires private counsel. So while a defendant can ask that the court-appointed attorney withdraw from the case, the judge in granting that request may refuse to appoint another attorney. The judge usually tells the defendant that.
