Damon Colbert helped me beyond and outside his scope of representation of me in 2016. I was arrested on a charge that had me facing life in prison.
I didn’t give him a lot to work with-I had made several statements to the police before I met him, and had already waived my preliminary hearing righ...ts, which was the only chance I had to get my accusers to testify in court before trial, all before I even met him. I was originally represented by the Arlington County Public Defender’s Office. I couldn’t get an in-person meeting with them, they didn’t return my calls or act like they even remotely cared about my case. When they told me I should take a terrible plea agreement for something I didn’t do, I knew I needed help.
Damon explained the strengths and weaknesses of my case and allowed me to direct him as to what I wanted to do. I felt like I was in control of my case the entire time, which I very much appreciated. He had clear and detailed answers to everything I asked him, and I couldn’t sign the papers to retain him fast enough. I was worried-with so many rights I had already given up, the possibility of going to trial scared me. He told me all I needed to know to feel comfortable with him: “I’m going to save your life.”
That’s exactly what he did. Six months later I was arrested again, in another state, for 12 charges. I didn’t know anyone where I was, so I called him. He wrote me letters, called the jail to make sure his client was being treated well (and responded appropriately when he found I wasn’t), and sent me case law and helped me with strategy for this other case. He wasn’t licensed to practice there, and any other lawyer would have retreated to that, and he could’ve. Not Damon. He communicated with me for 7 months while his case of mine was in limbo, and gave me the confidence I needed. All 12 of the charges were permanently dropped.
When I was returned to Virginia, Damon had my bond reinstated. There was a battle in the courtroom-the prosecutor painted me in a terrible light as a criminal that needed to be held accountable. I wasn’t, and Damon showed that. Within 72 hours of me being back in Virginia’s custody, Damon had me back out on the street.
I told him I wanted to prove my innocence and put this all behind me as quickly as possible. Damon pushed for an appropriate trial date and told me how having character witnesses would bolster my defense. He helped me with strategy in picking them-I didn’t know that some witnesses were more credible than others, depending on the circumstances. He taught me that. We prepped for the case intensely, and he taught me how to avoid prosecutorial tricks that might be thrown at me when I was on the stand. I actually felt comfortable taking the stand in my own defense, despite knowing nothing about the law, only having a high school diploma, and being scared of public speaking. That was because of Damon.
The day before trial, three of my witnesses didn’t show up. It threw a wrench in our entire strategy. I didn’t know what I was going to do. Damon rebounded, with less than 24 hours until trial. After my case was in limbo for 2 years, we were successful at trial. He fulfilled his promise, and saved my life.
I gave Damon very little to work with. He handled it all with the utmost professionalism and got me the results I wanted and deserved. My only regret was that I didn’t hire him sooner. Retaining Damon was the best legal investment I could’ve made.