Steven M. Hyder

Mr. Hyder was more affordable than some of the attorneys I talked with before my trial. I believed that I had a pretty easy case to defend, so I decided to hire Mr. Hyder instead of going with a more expensive attorney. That was a huge mistake. I had originally decided on a jury trial because I d...idn't trust the judge, this judge seemed to be very unfair. Mr. Hyder advised me to wave my right for a jury trial, and to go before this judge. He told me that this judge was a very fair judge, and that I should choose a judge trial instead of a jury trial. Mr. Hyder also told me that this judge was a former defense attorney, so this judge would be fair with me. I later found out that this judge was not a former defense attorney, but he was a former prosecuting attorney. I feel that it was very unprofessional for Mr. Hyder to lie to me like that. This judge was very disrespectful to Mr. Hyder during my trial (he didn't seem to like Mr. Hyder, at all), and I wondered Mr. Hyder would say this judge was very fair. I believe that Mr. Hyder only recommended a judge trial because they are much quicker than jury trials, and he got paid the same amount whether I went with a judge or jury. During my trial, Mr. Hyder appeared to be very intimidated by the prosecutor, and especially the judge. The prosecutor for my trial was extremely well prepared. He had typed notes, and he also typed up his opening and closing statements. Mr. Hyder was very disorganized, and it appeared that he had hardly prepared at all. There was a three page police report of the incident. My accusor claimed that I damaged some of his property, but he refused to show the alleged damaged property to the police. After 5 days my accusor takes this alleged damaged property to the police - this was all in the police report. I told Mr. Hyder about this 5 days many times, but he never brought this up during the trial, I was shocked. I don't think that Mr. Hyder even read the police report, and it was only three pages long. My trial last 2 days. I had told Mr. Hyder that I think that my accusor was at work on the day he's accusing me of my crime. He had told the police that he was there when he's accusing me of damaging his property. Mr. Hyder kept asking me why my accusor would make this up. So finally, after the first day of trial, Mr. Hyder finally calls my accusors place of work. They inform Mr. Hyder that my accusor was at work on the day he is accusing me of my crime, and one of the managers says he will testify to this and also bring my accusors time-card to my trial. At the beginning of the second day of my trial, Mr. Hyder presents this information to the judge, and asks the judge for an adjournment so he can subpeona this manager. The judge denies Mr. Hyders request saying that my accusor wouldn't make this up. Mr. Hyder actually tells this judge that he will file an appeal, and my trial goes on. Then, to my shock and amazement, Mr. Hyder calls me to the witness stand. I was completely unprepared for this, and Mr. Hyder didn't even ask for a brief recess to prepare me. Even though Mr. Hyder had told the judge that he was going to file an appeal, he changes his mind. Mr. Hyder tells me that one misdeamor on my record is nothing to worry about. I felt that this was a very easy case to win and Mr. Hyder blew it. If he had just listened to me and read the police report before the trial, then I would have been found not-guilty.