FRIEND NEEDS CRIMINAL DEFENSE "PRO BONO"

San Bernardino, CA Viewed 145 times. Posted 9 months ago in Criminal Defense

friend was arrested and charged with kidnapping. he was not at the place alledged victim found. the month previous to this arrest my friend was arrested on a supposed parole violation and immediately sent back to prison. after investigating by his PO he was released and allowed to continue on parole. the very same spec enforcement officer arrested him for this crime however he was not involved.

Answers (3)

Deirdre Lynn O'Connor

This attorney is licensed in California and 2 other states. Posted 9 months ago.

If your friend cannot afford a lawyer, he will be appointed an attorney from the public defender's office. If he has already been appointed a lawyer but has a specific and justifiable concern about the quality of representation his court-appointed lawyer is providing, he can request a new lawyer to be appointed.

If he would just prefer to have someone other than a PD to represent him, he can check for law school clinics and/or private law firms pro bono departments.

Jeffrey Tyson Hammerschmidt

This attorney is licensed in California. Posted 9 months ago.

The United States Constitution requires the Government to provide an attorney at no charge to a person who is charged with a crime and who is indigent. The Public Defender can only represent one person in a criminal case, so if more than one defendant is charged the additional defendants will each be appointed another attorney, often a private attorney who is paid by the hour.
A kidnapping charge is a serious crime that can have a significant term of imprisonment. The best approach is to have regular communication with the appointed attorney and to ask him/her to explain the plan to defend the case. If the attorney is not communicating with the client or is failing to do the things he/she said would be done, the client can make a Marsden motion to have the appointed counsel relieved and replaced with another attorney.