William Joseph Turner

I was unfortunate enough to get into some serious legal trouble over a year ago, hired this man and will regret it for the rest of my life. We paid over 9k in total and received nothing but mediocre legal advice, subpar representation, and a COMPLETE lack of any communication. He put forth absolutel...y no effort to get the facts of my case in front of the DA, ignored my repeated requests for a bond hearing and in fact urged me to take a plea deal of 90 days in a probation detention camp in addition to pleading guilty to a felony, because he said, ‘the facts were stacked against me’ which was a lie that we discovered upon his dismissal. Turns out he never requested the discovery from the DA and that was after 8 months of these charges pending against me. Had he requested the discovery he would have known the state’s case against me was completely circumstantial and lacking ANY hard evidence whatsoever. Not only is he notorious for his refusal to return calls, text messages, voice messages and emails but he was at least an hour and sometime 2 hours late to nearly every court appearance I had, of which there were Many. At one point Effingham County Judge Muldrew actually disparaged him in open court for his irresponsibility, consistently late appearances and often flat out refusal to even show up regardless of the amount of time his clients were scheduled on the docket. He talks a great game upon his initial consultation but once you’ve paid him in full he disappears, and does the bare minimum for your case. We ended up firing him and found a new attorney who took his job and me as his client seriously. My case has since been resolved after a year of heartache, debilitating stress and hard core depression, being plead out to a few misdemeanors and a few years probation, a far cry from Joey’s recommendation. BEWARE

Retained in concert with my sister in law to represent my brother. Initial retainer quote was 5k, which swelled to 6.5k in one week. The only thing this “lawyer” did was enter an order of appearance. He alleged he filed a motion for a bond hearing, he didn’t. No such filing exists. My brother sat ...in jail til the state failed to deliver an indictment within 90 days. He knew under the law my brother would be afforded bond in 90 days and so he pretended to work the case after collecting money from both me and my sister in law for his retainer. Obviously my sister in law struggled with finances with her husband in jail. Mr. Turner was instructed to contact me if a monthly payment was missed, at which time I might step in the make the payment. Apparently payments were missed and I was never contacted. Mr. Turners excuse for not working the case was a “lack of payment” that could have been resolved with a phone call. Mr. Turner, one month after my brothers release on bond, tried to convince him to take a plea deal after charging a trial level retainer. How an attorney goes from ready for trial to advising a plea agreement is beyond me. Further, Mr Turner alleged he had information regarding the other party to the case; it turns out this was impossible because MR TURNER NEVER FILED FOR DISCOVERY. Way to drop the ball Turner. Mr. Turner fails to return calls and emails and does not keep abreast of events in his clients cases. An indictment was handed down in October. Mr. Turner didn’t inform my brother that he had indeed been indicted, did not afford him notice of required court appearances and thus, my brother was handed a bench warrant for failure to appear. His attorney dropped the ball. If Mr. Turner had informed myself or my brother of the indictment, surrender would have been arranged and my brother could have stayed out on bond pending trial. Instead, due to Mr. Turners multiple failings, my brother was rearrested MONTHS later - a complete surprise - in front of his children. Further, he is now being denied bond, having been labeled a flight risk for failure to appear on a hearing he had NO NOTICE OF. In brief, we paid a couple thousand dollars for an entry of appearance (approximately .5 billable hours) and one jail visit (approximately 1 billable hour if you’re feeling generous). This attorney ceased ALL communication within 60 days of receiving the initial payment and having not even worked enough billable hours to consume that payment. I have multiple emails and attempted phone calls with no response. Attorney does not send a monthly statement of billable hours. Didn’t even file a withdrawal; new attorney had to file substitution of counsel. Client dumping is an ethics violation and if my money is not refunded, formal complaints with the State Bar as well as the ethics board will be forthcoming.

This man is full of it. I have been calling him for 4 months. I have not yet got a return phone call. I wish I would've read his reviews before we hire him. For the part 2 weeks I have been calling him 2 weeks straight everyday and I have not yet receive a phone call back. I will be reporting him to ...the board tomorrow. At this point I hate this man.. Its so funny that he can response to these reviews, but cant return my calls