Matthew Anthony Leibert

Matthew Leibert

This client was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm. The event happened in 2016 but this review was posted September 30, 2018. Why so long? Because that’s when this client was finally released from jail! He did time, now he’s on 3 years of felony probation, and he’s a convicted felon for life. So how did his new attorney clean up a mess? During my representation of this client, I filed a Writ of Mandamus with the Second District Court of Appeals. Most criminal defense attorneys have never filed an extraordinary writ with a District Court and wouldn’t even know how. I do it whenever the occasion arises. It was a lot of work and I didn’t charge extra for it. I even ate the cost of filing the writ. After the writ, I took the depositions of four witnesses. Each witness stated that this client was the aggressor in a road rage incident. The victim tried to get away and parked at a store. This client turned around, came back, got out and pointed a gun at the victim’s head. Two of the witnesses were completely independent and knew no one involved. A jury would be most likely to believe the two independent witnesses. So that’s a very difficult trial to win. I suggested a plea instead of a trial. This client couldn’t face the truth, so he hired a new lawyer who continued the case for six months and then plead the client guilty to jail and probation. I did way more work than the new lawyer did. As to the issue of communication, most of the time I had to speak with the client’s girlfriend because this guy was so emotional that he would refuse to get on the phone. Unfortunately, in criminal law, sooner or later you end up representing someone like this client who can’t be trusted to act appropriately in society or to show up in life with honesty.