Nycole Robinson Howard

I was assigned Ms Howard to defend me on a DWI charge by the court. I was given a contact number which I tried repeatedly, only to find it was disconnected. On my first court date she was late and when we finally met she gave me a number saying she had moved her office to her home and to call to set ...an appointment to discuss the case. I tried again to reach her only to find she never answers her phone and her voice mail isn't set up so again no contact till court date. On that occasion the DA was un-prepared, and wanted a continuance. She didn't ask for a dismissal. The next time, again no contact till court, and again the DA was not ready and once again, no motion for dismissal. Finally, when the court date came and the DA was ready but had no witnesses, he then offered a plea deal. When I was offered this plea agreement, I told her I wanted to fight it instead. She asked with what, so I gave her my medical reports, a list of witnesses to subpoena, and a new date was set with the judge saying there would be no further dates. On the final court date, she showed up 4 hours late, having lost my paperwork, having not subpoenaed anyone, and again telling me of the plea offer and saying that I could get 2 years but if I took the offer I would only get 30 days. This time, again no witnesses for DA, just an officers statement. She did not tell me the plea agreement was for 2 years with all but 30 days suspended and was for the charge, the max allowed. I only found it out after having taken it. In summation she got me a plea agreement for the max penalty when the prosecution had no witnesses and she had lost some of my evidence and not gotten me any of my witnesses to mount a defense. With no options and without her telling me I was getting the max sentence she made me feel I had no option but to take the agreement. She charged me 3 hours time when I had only talked to her maybe ten minutes outside the courtroom, and she spent maybe 20 minutes in front of the judge. It felt as if she worked for the DA's office instead of for my interests. I told her it seemed like "state sponsored extortion". Hopefully, If you hire her she will put in some effort to do a competent job, but as for myself never again even if she was the only lawyer on the planet.