Asked about 1 year ago - Dublin, CA
FlagMy nephew (and family) are in Dublin california. 2 weeks ago 2 parents had him arrested for statutory rape. He's 18, 1 of the girls was 14 at the time, the other i'm not sure but older. Both girls were consenting (which I know doesn't matter much). My family has never had any legal troubles and my parents are lost. They can't afford an attorney, his bail is set at 180,000$ and they can't even afford the bail money. The public defender basically told them that she was swamped and had his cased postponed another 10 days because she didn't want to "rush things". So i'm not expecting alot of help from her as she basically is talking already about how much time he has to serve. Are we screwed? do we have any options? is the time he's serving now going to go towards any time he gets?
You are not necessarily "screwed".
First, postponing a case, especially a sex case, is not uncommon. The public defender needs time to get up to speed on the case, just like any other attorney would. I know 10 days may seem like a long time because he's in custody, but if the attorney needs that time, then the 10 days are well worth it given the lifetime consequences he's facing.
Secondly, all attorneys have a duty to tell their clients the amount of time they are potentially facing. That isn't a red flag, that's the public defender's job.
If you hire a private lawyer, it's true that you will get more time to talk to the lawyer. But if that truly isn't an option, then let the public defender do their job. If you really feel like the public defender isn't adequately representing him, he needs to ask the judge for new appointed counsel (it's called a Marsden motion).
Finally, he is getting credit for the time he's serving now towards any sentence he may receive if he's ultimately convicted by plea or trial.
This is a situation where you FIND the money, as it is something that can follow him his entire life and/or ruin his entire life. As for the bail, I'm fairly certain that a bond company will put it up for like 10% of that amount? I'm not sure though. Make the calls.
Maybe a hungry, fairly new atty would take this case for a flat fee of "not too much" and give it ALL of his or her attention? Maybe that's better than a public defender who is too busy?
Make some calls
This is indeed a problem for you nephew. Since he has an attorney, I suggest that he direct his concerns to his attorney. I can tell you that lawyers on this forum (generally) do not like to answer questions when a person is lready represented. It's bad form to undermine or question an attorney's performance who is already imbedded in a case. That said, your nephew can always fire his attorney and hire a private lawyer if he's not satisfied. He would of course need money to pay for a private criminal defense attorney, which I firmly believe would be money well spent. Best of luck to him. If you have additional questions, feel free to call my office.
The benefit of a public defender is they have a lot of experience, they do lots of cases just like this. On the other hand, sometimes public defenders are too busy to really make the client feel comfortable. An 18 year old sometimes needs a bit more attention since this is all new to them.
Has the family even spoken to any attorneys? How do they know they can't afford it? When you say the can't afford it - do you mean they don't want to hire an attorney or they really couldn't afford it.
I suggest digging deep. The family needs to chip in. Many attorneys, in fact most make payment plans available.
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