Reid Jay Roethe

I paid him $3,500 upfront, for a felony 6 charge (the least serious felony), first time offender. Reid took the first plea offer, and I was sentenced to 365 days (180 days… I spent 90 days in jail, through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years). A friend of mine who nearly has a law degree tol...d me that it was a mistake to pay him the full fee upfront, as he might have been more motivated had I paid him half first, half after completion. My girlfriend also seemed dismayed whenever I told her about him, or when she listened to his voice mail message—normally she’s very positive, but even before the sentencing date she was angry on my behalf at Reid’s hurried manner and his infrequent contact. Indeed, everyone I’ve talked to about his performance has said that he did a poor job (some in more colorful language), from people within the jail who went so far as to say I should sue him (it’s remarkable how much they know about the law...going on and on about what Reid specifically neglected to do), to my mother (who doesn’t know that I was beaten in jail and woke up in a huge pool of my own blood), to my aforementioned friend, to my girlfriend, to my sister. After months of calling him and no contact from Reid Roethe, he called me a few days before my sentencing date and left a hurried voice mail, telling me that he had been in Florida on vacation. He told me to gather all the mitigating evidence I could, rushed through several other things to remember, then hung up. At my sentencing, I was presented with the discovery of evidence against me. It was the first time I had seen the evidence in the discovery against me. Only later (in jail) did I learn that I could’ve said, “This is the first time I’m seeing this. I need time to process this.” That simple sentence would’ve gotten me a continuance, which (I have since learned), is a benefit to the accused and often, if not usually, inspires the prosecutor to sweeten the plea deal. Between the prosecution and the accused, there are 6 total continuances that can be had. Since the state is reluctant to spend resources on a trial, it’s better not to accept the first plea deal offered. During my sentencing, when asked if I would like to remove my attorney, I was stunned and I said No (because he was sitting beside me, and I had already paid him $3,500—all my savings—and I was not prepared to hire another attorney and was not sure what that entailed. This was the first time I had ever been at a sentencing and I did not know what I was doing. Apparently, that too would’ve been to my benefit. Despite having no prior convictions, I was sentenced to 180 days in jail (and spent 90). Additionally, considering I had imminent financial obligations, he did not ask for a delay of my incarceration. Do not plead guilty without first seeing the Reciprocal of Discovery. There was no postponement of sentencing, no bond reduction, I didn’t get a copy of the discovery, and there was no criminal conversion (to plea it down to a misdemeanor). If you intend to hire Roethe, I would advise against paying him the full fee upfront. I would've fared better with the Public Defender.