After my last lawyer lied to me, I pled guilty to lesser charges. However, afterwards the courts decided to upgrade the charges and break the plea deal. I hired this Lou Barbone after the public defenders office refused to take my case. I never pled guilty nor had a trial to the charges. I am trying ...to get the falsified convictions thrown out and trying to get a trial, which the state has been fighting against for 5 years. Barbone said he could get a recording of the hearings. The courts insist I'm not allowed to file any motions and that an attorney must do it despite case law to the contrary, and Mr. Barbone refuses to do so. We call him constantly and he hasn't called back once in the past 2 months despite taking $7500 from us. Despite there not being any plea papers to the charges I'm convicted of, despite the charges listed in the pre-sentence report (which in itself is not what I agreed to) being lesser to what I was convicted to, the courts say the transcripts supercede any other document. Yet, the court also insist that there was no audio recording saved in the record. But Lou Barbone says that all hearings are recorded regardless of whether they are in the record or not and that he would get them on post-conviction relief. He disclosed these promises before we hire him. Be warned, the courts DO NOT record hearings. They can falsify any record they choose. To add insult to injury, the courts decide to add fines after I was falsely sent to prison and then sent those fines to a debt collection agency in Georgia. I asked Barbone to file a motion since these fines were neither part of the plea agreement, nor assessed in the pre-sentence report, nor ordered at sentencing (even in the falsified transcripts), nor am I able to pay them (I had to take out loans to pay Barbone after the court ordered me to hire my own attorney). He refuses to respond and instead sent a letter claiming he didn't know what grounds to file the motion.
I will update this record if Lou Barbone ever responds to me.