What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Illinois
I have a friend (20 years old) who was stopped at a stop sign at 1 am. He waited for 3 bike riders (2 men and a lady) with bike lights, to pass through the intersection and then he proceeded to pull out to make a left turn. A 4th rider ( a lady) without a light on her bike, just barely hit him on the front drivers side...hardly made any mark on the car. She fell off her bike but quickly got up and moved her bike out of the way. My friend was scared because he was in an area where many Hispanics lived, it was night time, there were 2 other men there, plus he saw the lady get up and move her bike, so he left the scene. He got a lawyer the next day and reported it to the police. He admitted to leaving the scene.
To make a VERY long story short, his "lawyer" didn't properly represent him (wouldn't return phone calls or answer questions etc.) The state's attorney said the lady was in the hospital for a week ( it was only 1 day), that she didn't have insurance (she did), that she was coming home from work that night (she got off work 3 hours earlier ), etc. The state's attorney said he'd drop the felony charge down to 2 misdemeanors of leaving the scene of an accident and reckless conduct, require 1 year probation, and would require my friend to pay restitution and court costs. After threats from the states attorney of putting my friend in jail and charging him with a felony conviction, my friend reluctantly agreed to the 2 misdemeanor charges, probation and restitution. He is now trying to pay off approx. $6000 in restitution. Oh, neither the states attorney or his "lawyer" told him he would also lose his driving license for 3 years!
There is so much more to this case but I mainly wanted to know if it is too late to try to get this reconsidered in court? His final court date was Nov. 2nd, 2004. The family knows that the state's attorney lied a number of times to scare this young man into agreeing to his terms, and he was successful because my friends lawyer never was around to defend him. The family doesn't have a lot of money so spending thousands to hire another attorney is out of the question. Any suggestions? Thanks. Rabbit
I have a friend (20 years old) who was stopped at a stop sign at 1 am. He waited for 3 bike riders (2 men and a lady) with bike lights, to pass through the intersection and then he proceeded to pull out to make a left turn. A 4th rider ( a lady) without a light on her bike, just barely hit him on the front drivers side...hardly made any mark on the car. She fell off her bike but quickly got up and moved her bike out of the way. My friend was scared because he was in an area where many Hispanics lived, it was night time, there were 2 other men there, plus he saw the lady get up and move her bike, so he left the scene. He got a lawyer the next day and reported it to the police. He admitted to leaving the scene.
To make a VERY long story short, his "lawyer" didn't properly represent him (wouldn't return phone calls or answer questions etc.) The state's attorney said the lady was in the hospital for a week ( it was only 1 day), that she didn't have insurance (she did), that she was coming home from work that night (she got off work 3 hours earlier ), etc. The state's attorney said he'd drop the felony charge down to 2 misdemeanors of leaving the scene of an accident and reckless conduct, require 1 year probation, and would require my friend to pay restitution and court costs. After threats from the states attorney of putting my friend in jail and charging him with a felony conviction, my friend reluctantly agreed to the 2 misdemeanor charges, probation and restitution. He is now trying to pay off approx. $6000 in restitution. Oh, neither the states attorney or his "lawyer" told him he would also lose his driving license for 3 years!
There is so much more to this case but I mainly wanted to know if it is too late to try to get this reconsidered in court? His final court date was Nov. 2nd, 2004. The family knows that the state's attorney lied a number of times to scare this young man into agreeing to his terms, and he was successful because my friends lawyer never was around to defend him. The family doesn't have a lot of money so spending thousands to hire another attorney is out of the question. Any suggestions? Thanks. Rabbit
