F Clayton Tyler

Hired Mr. Tyler to represent me for a felony drug possession charge, my first offense. Me. Tyler was very persuasive before I hired him. He contacted me several times to tell me strategies for fighting the charge as I wanted to take it to trial. He said there several issues that we could fight. He'd ...tell me of a "5 prong strategy" we could use. He called me while he was on vacation outside the country to persuade me. I thought he was hungry and aggressive and would show that same level of enthusiasm during my case. I chose him out of the 4 attorneys I interviewed. After Mr. Tyler was hired, he was impossible to contact. I had no idea what to expect and I Found it very difficult to reach him. I walked into every hearing completely in the dark, with no idea what was going to happen. It was really frustrating. I was able to talk to a woman in his office one day and voiced my frustration and she said "Clayton has done this for so long that he forgets that his clients don't do this everyday". That makes sense, but I'd still appreciate if he'd give me a heads up on what to expect. He told me we could do a 5 minute session before each court date, but that still left me hanging in between. I was faced with a personal tragedy during this time and my circumstances changed. I needed to know an estimated cost of expert witnesses, etc. as far as advance as possible. He said he had the witnesses lined up. He told the judge and prosecutor he had the witnesses when he requested more time to get the case together. I kept calling him, no response. I still fully expected we were taking this to trial, but I was wrong. I arrived to court not knowing what to expect, but I thought it had something to do with the witnesses. Instead, Mr. Tyler was 2 hours late to court. He had called the prosecutor and she wasn't happy with the delay. I checked in and waited, when he arrived, we had a couple minute conference then started. That's when I found out there were no witnesses and I was expected to decide, on the spot, if I'd take a plea. I was floored. As far as I knew when I got there that day, I had a fighting chance at trial. Then I was expected to decide immediately whether I would take the plea and if I didn't, decide that second, the prosecutor was going to throw the book at me. I hadn't even considered a plea because I thought we were taking it to trial. The judge gave us a couple minutes to talk in private and I was beyond irritated. I asked him why he didn't tell me about the lack of witnesses earlier and his response was "look, you're guilty, I don't know what you expect me to do about it". Whoa. What happened to his 5 prong approach? I ended up making a pleaing out. I felt like I went in blind and was completely unprepared for what was happening. I still don't trust his actions that day and don't feel I was represented adequately. As the final insult, I was talking to him while walking in the courthouse-I didn't know where to go to start my after court requirements. Mid-sentence his phone rang, he shushed me, then said "this is an important client, I have to take this" and walked away from me. That was the last time we talked. I had a different lawyer look into my case. First thing he noticed was that my paperwork had listed the wrong crime. Whoa. Luckily, it's something that can be changed, but where was my lawyer to catch that???

Clayton Tyler should prosecute himself for poor representation!! He's the most untrustworthy attorney. I was 18 years old when I was being prosecuted - he advised me that it was in my best interest to plead guilty to a GROSS MISDEAMENOR, without defending me at all, saying that it would hardly affec...t my future. I was barely an adult and did not understand how this would affect me for the rest of my life. It is now 8 years later, and I'm losing jobs, apartments, etc. because of my background. He does not care about his clients. He barely communicated with me throughout the process, and he was a bit too friendly with the prosecuting attorney. Hiring him is one of my biggest regrets. He never once fought for me or my future.