Lloyd Johnson Matthews

I’ve been practicing Criminal Law for over 33 years and have established a long track record of success defending over two thousand clients. I received my undergraduate education at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Georgia State University, and then I received my law degree from the Law School of Georgia State University in Atlanta. My gravitation towards criminal defense had, at its source, a desire to try to compensate for wrongs that I detected in our legal system. I always wanted to be a spokesman for the underdog and I perceived that the criminal accused was in most cases at a sharp disadvantage as compared to the State. It seemed to me that the deck was stacked against him or her, and I believed that I could make a positive difference. I noticed that, while sometimes the alleged victim who was genuinely aggrieved and seeking justice, in lots of cases it was the State which moved forward with pressing charges- the alleged Victim didn’t necessarily want to pursue the charges! This struck me as odd- but it gradually dawned on me that sometimes the State pursued the charges simply because they could! So it seemed to me to be more about the power of the State, as their full resources were often arrayed against the comparatively less powerful criminal accused. That was a true epiphany for me, and confirmed for me the importance of good legal representation in the criminal context. The sad fact is there are lots of predators out there who will take advantage of law abiding citizens if we as a society allow it. But it’s equally true that in a striking number of cases the State will pursue until the bitter end charges which either should not have been brought, or charges where they could have compromised by offering a good plea bargain but declined to do so. I see my involvement as a defense attorney as my effort to make sure that the powerful State does not unduly take advantage of the powerless accused- as my effort to equalize the contest so that true justice can be the outcome. And justice will include some instances where the defendant was found “not guilty” by the jury, due to there being flaws in the prosecution’s case and insufficiencies in the evidence. I am totally committed to protecting the freedom and constitutional rights of my clients!