Don't have much money and facing legal trouble.
Is a court appointed attorney useful? Can they negotiate a plea on your behalf just like a private attorney? Do they really give a shit?

Unless you have a pile of money you really have no choice.

The quality of expertise you get from a Court appointed attorney can be hit or miss. Some are ok, some are sorry ass pieces of shit who are too stupid to get real clients with money.

Did you kill someone?

A court appointed lawyer is the same thing as no lawyer. In other words, they are worth what you are paying them.

The only possible exception is if your case has a lot of notoriety. Lawyers will sometimes take a case for free if it will make them famous.

Court appointed attorneys in Virginia are paid almost ridiculously low flat fees for most criminal matters. Most will try their best in the courtroom, but they have no incentive to devote much time and money to case development and trial preparation. In theory private attorneys should be better in this respect. Most criminal defendants though do not have much money. Going cheap on a private attorney is often no better than having a court appointed attorney.

many "private" attorney in fx co also do "piece work" for the county

don't trust them

free your screwed they cheat like hell even enter a guilty plea when un-necessary

pay - you getting someone who probably is tainted by the gov and cost OMG you might as well loose (claim no contest)

pro se - if you want something done right, do it yourself. well. it would take say 2 yr of study on top of (i assume) your current degree

many "private" attorney in fx co also do "piece work" for the county

--------------------

it's called "conflict of interest" and techincally it's illegal for these lawyers to not say they are employees of the state and client (and tell you)

however, fx co is full of crap cheats like shit: they aren't going to tell you likely: and if they don't fx co courts won't care if you do call them out on it. they will imprison you for a time just for ASKING to say you noticed cheating.

that's fact i have on record and filed in court as well

If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed by the court.

Kind of simple really.

Mike Johnson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don't have much money and facing legal trouble.
> Is a court appointed attorney useful? Can they
> negotiate a plea on your behalf just like a
> private attorney? Do they really give a shit?

What kind of legal trouble? Many private attorneys will give you a free initial consultation. Obviously they want you to hire them, but just talking to a couple might give you some ideas about what your options are. You might even find somebody who will offer you a manageable payment plan. A court-appointed attorney can certainly make a deal for you, but that might not be your best choice. Or it might be. What's the evidence against you? What's your response to it? Most people who go to trial are found guilty, but some win.

Mike Johnson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don't have much money and facing legal trouble.
> Is a court appointed attorney useful? Can they
> negotiate a plea on your behalf just like a
> private attorney? Do they really give a shit?

The reason you get a court-appointed attorney is not because you don't have very much money and are trying to decide if you want to spend it or not; it's because you're destitute and you have no other choice.

If your combined income and assets convertible into cash exceed $14,588, you are too rich to get a court-appointed attorney.

See "GUIDELINES FOR DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR COURT-APPOINTED COUNSEL" at
http://www.courts.state.va.us/courtadmin/aoc/djs/resources/manuals/ctapptatty/chapter02.pdf

If you've stupidly managed to catch any kind of a felony charge, you would be wise to hire the best lawyer you can find even if it means going in debt up to your eyeballs to do it, because a felony conviction will thoroughly fuck you up for the rest of your life.

Leagle Eagel. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mike Johnson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Don't have much money and facing legal trouble.
>
> > Is a court appointed attorney useful? Can they
> > negotiate a plea on your behalf just like a
> > private attorney? Do they really give a shit?
>
> The reason you get a court-appointed attorney is
> not because you don't have very much money and are
> trying to decide if you want to spend it or not;
> it's because you're destitute and you have no
> other choice.
>
> If your combined income and assets convertible
> into cash exceed $14,588, you are too rich to get
> a court-appointed attorney.
>
> See "GUIDELINES FOR DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR
> COURT-APPOINTED COUNSEL" at
> http://www.courts.state.va.us/courtadmin/aoc/djs/r
> esources/manuals/ctapptatty/chapter02.pdf
>
> If you've stupidly managed to catch any kind of a
> felony charge, you would be wise to hire the best
> lawyer you can find even if it means going in debt
> up to your eyeballs to do it, because a felony
> conviction will thoroughly fuck you up for the
> rest of your life.


Jesus, you have to be a REALLY REALLY poor bastard to fit within that range. Wow...

Leagle Eagel. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Mike Johnson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
>
> If your combined income and assets convertible
> into cash exceed $14,588, you are too rich to get
> a court-appointed attorney.
>
>
Income AND assets? So if you work at a minimum-wage job and get to it with a rattletrap old car, you might have to sell the car to get a court-appointed lawyer? And maybe lose your job? Are any assets (like the car) exempt? Are there alternatives for poor people with a little too much to qualify? Are Legal Aid and Legal Services still around?

if your found guilty they may try to add on legal fees to your court fees. try and tell them no.

because they are "free" or apointed doesn't mean they may not have to PAY THEM (that's actually new, added in this generation, the "me generation")

if your pro-se and win they are still supposed to pay you legal fees (as if you'd been court appointed, let's say) - at least the cost of getting to court and back by law, and speculatively more.

fx co / fx co courts won't: they won't even pay gas and will skip court when you say "pay up my legal fee"

no they skip court unless it's a county worker they are in collusion with (ie, sexting case) - where they pay out $175,000 and tenure to a teacher for a bogus charge in teh first place.

they jail you if you (a non gov worker?) try to get a dime of compensation

DL6vM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Income AND assets? So if you work at a
> minimum-wage job and get to it with a rattletrap
> old car, you might have to sell the car to get a
> court-appointed lawyer? And maybe lose your job?
> Are any assets (like the car) exempt? Are there
> alternatives for poor people with a little too
> much to qualify? Are Legal Aid and Legal Services
> still around?

If you're working a minimum wage job full-time, you make $15,080 per year, which means you make too much money to qualify for a court-appointed attorney. However, you're probably not working a single full-time job, but two or more part-time jobs, which puts you way, way over the $14,588 limit.

Personal property, such as your car, is counted as part of your assets, although any assets which would cause substantial hardship or jeopardize your ability to maintain a home and employment are exempt. If you got busted while driving your car, though, it's fucking GONE. It'll get towed to a lot for $150, and they'll charge you $80 in storage fees every day.

After you're arrested, you probably wouldn't be able to make bail, because you have to fork over 10% of the bail amount to the bondsman, which could be several hundred or a few thousand dollars. So, you're going to sit in the ADC until they finally get around to your hearing in a month or two or whenever they fucking feel like it, which means you're going to lose your job(s).

Legal Aid in Fairfax County is provided by Legal Services of Northern Virginia, but they don't handle criminal cases.

If you're poor you really, really want to stay far away from anything that could get you in any kind of trouble at all, because the system will fuck you HARD if you get caught up by it.

Leagle Eagel. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> If your combined income and assets convertible
> into cash exceed $14,588, you are too rich to get
> a court-appointed attorney.
>
>
How was that number set? How long since it was last adjusted? Considering that a private lawyer can cost $400 an hour or more, I would think at some point a restriction like that becomes a violation of the right to counsel.

ucUFY Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Leagle Eagel. Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > If your combined income and assets convertible
> > into cash exceed $14,588, you are too rich to
> get
> > a court-appointed attorney.
> >
> >
> How was that number set? How long since it was
> last adjusted? Considering that a private lawyer
> can cost $400 an hour or more, I would think at
> some point a restriction like that becomes a
> violation of the right to counsel.

It's 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for a single person, and was last set in July of this year.

The scale based on how many people are in your household is:
1 person - $14,588
2 people - $19,663
3 people - $24,738
4 people - $29,813

$5,075 is added for each household member above 4, because it's easy to take care of a kid for $5,000 per year.

not only that but i happen to know some of these "lawyers" are actually unionized gov worker families who pass the torch to their children to take the jobs they leave and get any new openings

i've had lawyers mysteriously switch my plea to guilty after there was no reason to do so - by surprise and only in front of the judge without my knowlege or discussion: simply to get a conviction for the county. they are taking dives

meanwhile the county refuses to do any pro-bono law except for county insiders (!! and they sue the taxpayer for millions !!)

meanwhile if county is caught red handed by someoen who knows the law and charged: they skip court. yet send you legal threats and debts continually on the same matters "they just assume they win because they are authorities"

note: this county has (and does) abduct people politically and holds them longer than 30 days without a trial. and during this gives forced injections that doctors generally do not recommend - after express interest in not receiving them (ie, poliio vaccination? or was it?)

vaccination? probably made in mexico (china, mexicans relabeled). be lucky if it did not GIVE YOU polio

Graziella Bianchi is a kick ass criminal defense attorney and she works out payment plans.

> If you've stupidly managed to catch any kind of a
> felony charge, you would be wise to hire the best
> lawyer you can find even if it means going in debt
> up to your eyeballs to do it, because a felony
> conviction will thoroughly fuck you up for the
> rest of your life.


Apparently fairfax county residents don't realize how incredibly easy it is to be charged with a felony in Virginia period. Own a legal gun? Drive around fairfax county for a while, get pulled over. You'll get charged first, jailed, bond if you're lucky and even if for some reason you beat the charge, the arrest stays on your record to be used against you at a later date. It never ceases to amaze me how cops and judges go by past arrests and not just convictions to judge.

Notamommy Wrote:

>
> Apparently fairfax county residents don't realize
> how incredibly easy it is to be charged with a
> felony in Virginia period. Own a legal gun? Drive
> around fairfax county for a while, get pulled
> over. You'll get charged first, jailed, bond if
> you're lucky and even if for some reason you beat
> the charge, the arrest stays on your record to be
> used against you at a later date. It never ceases
> to amaze me how cops and judges go by past arrests
> and not just convictions to judge.

If you own the gun legally, what are you arrested and charged for? You don't think just owning a gun means you can carry concealed without a permit, do you?

Another ignorant thread about attorneys.

Only an idiot would use the computer to find a local attorney. Of course, most criminal defendants are idiots. One should avoid any attorney named anywhere on Fairfax Underground, in any capacity. And, some of the attorneys whose web sites show up high in google searches are absolutely pathetic attorneys who don't know what they are doing, other than collecting money from saps.

I can see using a computer for a lyft ride, or for cheap cigarettes. But, if you are charged with a criminal offense, you need to go to the only true and reliable source for attorneys: word of mouth. Ask around, discreetly.

N.B., if you get in trouble in another state while on vacation or something, then you probably need to use a computer to find an attorney.

"you need to go to the only true and reliable source for attorneys: word of mouth"... um, some of us don't run in circles where people have lots of legal issues. Some of us actually keep company with law abiding citizens never in need of a defense attorney. So "word of mouth" = fail for most people.