weplumcrazy
Member
What is the name of your state?
TEXAS
I am involved in a criminal case concerning the search and seizure of alleged gambling eqiuipment. A 3rd party with a large interest in the situation paid for an attorney who supposedly "never lost a case of this type". After a year of him never returning calls,
never obtaining the documents re Discovery that we requested, never met with the D.A. to put forth a defense or discuss the options, I have become very disgusted. Since the Search and Seizure we have not been able to obtain a copy of the Affidavit for the Search Warrant. We discussed this with the attorney but he never followed up to see why the Affidavit was "missing' or being held from us. If there is a problem with the Affidavit the whole thing could be thrown out. How do I obtain a copy myself? In the Code of Criminal Procedure it states that after the warrant has been executed a copy of the affidavit may be viewed in the magistrate's clerk's office but when we, the defendants requested a copy of it, we received a response that No Search Warrants WEre on file in their office. Our attorney never followed up on this or filed any motions. He told us at the last docket call in March that he would be meeting with the D.A. in April to put forth our defense but he never met with anyone. On the last day before our final docket call he made a last minute phone call and received a plea offer from the D.A. He never offered us an opportunity to meet and discuss the plea offer and our options. Next thing we know, by going to the Court House and researching our case on their in-house computers we discover that our court date has been set for the plea date, not the trial date. The attorney did this without consulting us.
When he received a call from the court informing him we were upset about the findings he called and yelled and screamed at me antd threatened me with jail time. I wrote him a letter requesting a copy of the plea offer in writing and expressed my dissatisfaction at his total "non-action" in our behalf. The response I received was a Motion to Withdraw form he wants me to sign 6 days before our final court date. What is my course of action here? Do I go to the courts with this information? Should I file a grievance? Please help.
TEXAS
I am involved in a criminal case concerning the search and seizure of alleged gambling eqiuipment. A 3rd party with a large interest in the situation paid for an attorney who supposedly "never lost a case of this type". After a year of him never returning calls,
never obtaining the documents re Discovery that we requested, never met with the D.A. to put forth a defense or discuss the options, I have become very disgusted. Since the Search and Seizure we have not been able to obtain a copy of the Affidavit for the Search Warrant. We discussed this with the attorney but he never followed up to see why the Affidavit was "missing' or being held from us. If there is a problem with the Affidavit the whole thing could be thrown out. How do I obtain a copy myself? In the Code of Criminal Procedure it states that after the warrant has been executed a copy of the affidavit may be viewed in the magistrate's clerk's office but when we, the defendants requested a copy of it, we received a response that No Search Warrants WEre on file in their office. Our attorney never followed up on this or filed any motions. He told us at the last docket call in March that he would be meeting with the D.A. in April to put forth our defense but he never met with anyone. On the last day before our final docket call he made a last minute phone call and received a plea offer from the D.A. He never offered us an opportunity to meet and discuss the plea offer and our options. Next thing we know, by going to the Court House and researching our case on their in-house computers we discover that our court date has been set for the plea date, not the trial date. The attorney did this without consulting us.
When he received a call from the court informing him we were upset about the findings he called and yelled and screamed at me antd threatened me with jail time. I wrote him a letter requesting a copy of the plea offer in writing and expressed my dissatisfaction at his total "non-action" in our behalf. The response I received was a Motion to Withdraw form he wants me to sign 6 days before our final court date. What is my course of action here? Do I go to the courts with this information? Should I file a grievance? Please help.