Raymond Allen Hayes II

What a wonderful experience working with Ray Hayes, A true privilege. Attorney Hayes was extremely understanding and compassionate to my individual situation and circumstance. Met every need as a professional. When my court date neared Attorney Hayes communicated the dates and times. Attorney Hayes w...alked me through the process of what to expect. Complete and utter satisfaction as a client. - Pax B

My father acquired Mr Raymond Hayes for me while I was incarcerated for a parole violation that was a result of being charged with felony drug possession, and possession of drug paraphernalia. After a consultation, my father paid a $7,500 retainer to insure his representation of me on the parole viol...ation and the new charges. The following day Mr Hayes came to visit me in the county jail and the first thing we went over was the fee agreement to secure his representation. Mr Hayes initially had the fees set at a total of $12,500. Of which he stated $2500 was for representation at the parole hearing, and the additional $10,000 to represent me on the new charges which included pre-trial and trial representation if it were to come to that. Because I was aware of the circumstances involved with my case and knowing only an extremely small percentage of criminal cases make it to trial, I specifically stated to Mr Hayes that a trial would not be required, as we both are aware that the majority of criminal cases are resolved without a trial through either a plea or dismissal, to which he agreed. So I stated the included fee for trial wasn’t necessary, and Mr Hayes marked out the $12,500 amount and wrote $7,500 in its place. After doing so I agreed to his representation and signed the fee agreement contract. I was unable to receive a copy of the contract due to me being incarcerated at the county jail and Mr Hayes not having readily access to a copier. Mr Hayes represented me at my parole hearing where I was sentenced to 90 days. While incarcerated I received a letter from Mr Hayes stating my next court date was set for August 11 which was a little more than 2 weeks after my release date for the parole violation. On the day of my very first court date, Mr Hayes showed up over an hour late. When he did finally arrive he spoke to the district attorney or their assistant (which ever it was) and after speaking to them, he brought me outside the courtroom to discuss the plea being offered. But before I would even think about accepting any plea I asked Mr Hayes for a police report because I wanted to know what probable cause the officers had to initiate their investigation to begin with and to see what little evidence they claimed to have. To which Mr Hayes said he wasn’t even sure there was a police report yet and he walked back into the courtroom to inquire about it. A few moments later he walks out with the police report and he goes over it for the very first time with me. So this means he is asking me to accept a guilty plea for a crime that he hadn’t even seen a police report on, and that he wasn’t even aware of the basic circumstances involved with the alleged offenses. So in weighing my decision to accept the plea, my main incentive was I believed it would save me $5,000 in additional attorney fees just by going ahead and accepting the offer of time served for a guilty plea on possession of paraphernalia, that had no further consequences than had the case been dismissed completely or had I been found not guilty at trial. The main deciding factor of not taking the case to trial was my belief that it would have ended up costing me thousands of dollars . After I left the courthouse, I was speaking to my father about my reason for accepting the plea, thinking I was saving thousands of dollars avoiding a trial. That is when my father informed me that he had paid Mr Ray Hayes an additional $7,500 after I had signed the fee agreement contract stating the fee for a trial would not be required because it would be settled with a plea or dismissal. After learning about this fact I immediately contacted Mr Hayes by phone and stated my displeasure and requested a partial refund for the fees that weren’t warranted and that I specifically didn’t agree to to which his only response was “I think you got a great deal”. I feel his actions are morally and ethically wrong given the circumstances.