INFO on lawyers in FFX and the criminal law process in FFX County (LONG)
Posted by:
FFX_ADC_Alum 2014
()
Date: May 29, 2016 03:18AM
I got into some trouble in 2014 (criminal, 1st time offender) and called and consulted with practically every criminal lawyer eligible to practice in FFX.
Here is some info:
If your case is criminal it will go through he lower court (district) then get remanded to the higher court,(circuit), which it will, as the lower court is just basically a formality. Unless it is something ridiculous where you are clearly not guilty like a stolen identity it will never be dismissed at the district level.
FFX County lawyers will quote you two fees, if they are honest. They will quote you the cost of the district court process then the circuit court process. The dishonest ones will quote you only the district court process, knowing that it will go to circuit, but it makes their fee sound like half of the others. Once you are on board and have been working with them and they are "your lawyer", and it goes to circuit, they know you will stay with them because who wants to change lawyers in the middle of the process? And t is a looooong process. My little criminal case took over a year to work its way though the court.
That said, all the "Top Washington Criminal Lawyers," such as Greenspun may indeed be good, but they cost a LOT of money. You can find similar representation at half the cost if you look. AVVO has lists of FFX County lawyers and ratings from real clients.
For my small time criminal case, Greenspun wanted 15k for district court and 15k for circuit. Mind you, district court process could be done by a first year law student with a blindfold and a hand tied behind their back as it is just a lot of basic paperwork, crossing the T's and dotting the I's to ensure the casework id "clean" and without errors before being "sent upstairs." And I can assure you, Greenspun himself likely never touches a piece of paper on your case except to review at the district level. So you are paying 15k to have a Greenspun law clerk or recent law grad assistant (top grads to work for Greenspun, but still...) file
briefs or paperwork or draft the legal docs on your case, etc. So, unless you ARE the DC Sniper, Greenspun will not actually be working on your case until later, if at all. When you get to that level, you just have to show up in court on sentencing day and read a prepared argument based on the case history and notes.
Another good one is Mark Deceio. (sp?) A lot of people say he is a miracle worker at getting people off. Others say yes, that is true, but he is kind of "smarmy and how he works miracles is by greasing the right people. That greasing money comes from YOU. So, even though his quote to me was 10k/10k, I believe that IF he was able to grease anyone in my case (which sometimes you can, sometimes you can't) it would still be likely costing me as much as getting Greenspun.
There is this excellent Jewish guy in his late 50's right off the Y in the road that runs by the courthouse and jail. Can't remember his name but he has a big presence in the area, does not work with clients who want to work with the police (narcs) and has a big website against law enforcement. He's on AVVO.
John Boneta is pretty good and his assistant Andrew is top notch. Boneta used to be a cop, then a FFX County prosecutor so he knows the ropes. Hes also a nice guy and returns calls (very rare.)
The lawyer I could afford on my baggage handler job at Dulles could not do much for my case. I got 16 months in FFX ADC & 10 years probation with weekly color code drug testing for an entire year for driving a guy I met in a bar to a party where he sold some drugs to a CI. I never even went into the party, (was in the yard with others)and I did know he sold a gram of coke to a CI. I also don't do drugs myself. However, because I took $50 to drive him out to FFX County from Georgetown to go to a party" in Virginia "if you profit in any way from the sale of narcotics, you are equally culpable as who sold the narcotic." I spent 16 months in jail with criminals, being treated like a criminal myself and came out with a felony record for distribution. I lost my housing and job when I went to jail (had been with United for 10 years) and my apartment. Now, I cannot find a job or housing anywhere since they all do background checks and I have a felony record for distribution, despite never having even touched anything stronger than alcohol.
The War Against Drugs in America is F***ed up people!