Arthur Douglas Prior Jr.

I was charged with aggravated assault in Pinellas county. The year was 2015. I did not live in Pinellas county at the time and asked an attorney friend of mine for guidance in making a decision of who to hire. My friend told me to hire Doug Prior and I scheduled a meeting with him. During the meet...ing Doug claimed he knew everybody that needed to be known in Pinellas county, the state attorneys office, and all the judges. He said that he was going to try to get my case dismissed before charges were brought on me within the first 30 days. During that consultation he charged me $5,000 retainer fee and I signed a contract with him stating my total cost even if this went to trial would not exceed $10,000..... at this point in time I had no criminal record. Facts of the case: the victims had a gun on them. I was a licensed gun owner. I never pointed a weapon, or made any kind of verbal threat to do harm to these victims. The victims lied in the police report and then came in five months later for depositions and said a completely different story. Their credibility was shot. Doug, however, refused to litigate the case. He cussed myself and my family out prior to my fourth trial date. I sat in county jail for almost a year and a half trying to get this resolved because Mr. Prior could not even get a bond granted for me. In total Mr. Prior Took $17,261 from me. He did this all while I was in county jail. My money was in a trust with the other attorney friend of mine. Doug, like the weasel he is, kept communicating with the other attorney stating he needed more money to do things like investigations and depositions even though we had a signed contract that said in total nothing would go over $10,000. Being ignorant to the court system because of my lack of a record, I trusted my friends advice and believed that Mr. Prior had my best interest in mind. What a dreadful mistake that was. In a case that should have been dropped, I ended up going to prison for 4 mandatory years. I also got put on probation for an additional two years. I scored out to a total of 18 months in prison if the charges stuck. Mr. Prior could not even get me a downward departure. Do not hand this man your money, because you’re better off going in representing yourself. Because of this man I lost my business, my home, my vehicles, and my fiancé. Mr. Prior does not see human beings. He sees nothing but the money he can swindle out of you. So choose wisely when choosing an attorney. I wish I had the chance to do it over again because I would not have spent a day in county jail or even had to go to prison, because the facts of the case alone would have set me free. I take full responsibility of the mistake I made hiring this man, or lack thereof. It is my responsibility now to make sure that none of you make the same mistake!

Unfortunately, I cannot leave a positive review for this attorney. I do not feel he had my family's best interest in mind and I was lucky enough t o figure that out before we hired him. We were in a tight situation with what felt like no other options and I believe Mr. Prior attempted to take advanta...ge of that. He knew we were not local to the area and it seems he felt we would pay him whatever the cost to fix our problem. He came as a reference from another attorney close to the family so we had hoped Mr. Prior would keep that in mind. Instead an astronomical fee was quoted for a case that we all felt was going to be dropped by the State before it ever even got filed. Despite that very realistic possiblity, a fee was quoted for the "whole case". The "whole case" had to be paid for up front EVEN if he immediately got the case dropped. Mr. Prior's experience , his self proclamation that he "knew everyone" in the court house and at the State coupled with the facts of the case made it seemingly clear that this was not going to be the hardest case to get rid of quickly. And yet , an entire case fee was quoted to us. Luckily, another attorney in the area was willing to help us at a fraction of the cost, not because he was not an excellant attorney but simply because he wanted to actually help us and he knew he wasn't going to need to take this case very far. As expected, this other attorney got the case dropped nearly instantaneously. I am sure Mr. Prior knows what he is doing as he has been practicing in this area for many years. However it quickly became clear that his agenda was to make a quick and easy buck instead of focusing on how to actually help us.

When Doug wanted the retainer fee for my case, he did spend a lot of time in a complimentary consultation with me, proudly exclaiming he was long time friends with the judge. Once, he got my down payment, he started changing his tune, and would interrupt me telling me" he knows what hes doing"! Well,... silly me for entrusting my elders bc he was not up to date on the new DUI laws and we were all surprised when I got screwed in court.