Georgeen Marie Carson

I had Ms. Carson as my defender for almost 2 years awaiting trial. I believe she did a very poor job defending me. I do not recommend her to anyone using a public defender- although I believe she retired as of now. I explained to Ms. Carson during the court proceedings of my case what had happened to... me- and why I felt forced to sign a confession for the police. I explained to Ms. Carson information about my mental illnesses and how they played a role in what I signed that was false. Ms. Carson held a hearing in an attempt to throw out my confession- but she failed to bring up any valid testimony that had to do with reasons for why I felt forced in signing the confession. She did not bring up to the judge the verbal abuse and sexual harassment I received from the detectives, and why I panicked and signed the confession due to the poor treatment I received from the police. She did not ask me to explain to the judge why I thought I was treated poorly from the detectives, or what I thought each Miranda RIght meant. I explained to Ms. Carson many times how I interpreted each right- and how I did not understand how they applied towards the confession. But, she did not bring that up to the judge during the hearing. I also was not able to make Ms. Carson understand why I felt pressured into signing a confession for other reasons as well besides not understanding Miranda Warnings. Ms. Carson did not explain to the judge that the detectives failed to inform me before or during the interrogation that I had the right to a lawyer during the questioning- as the questioning was already over before I read my rights. I do not think she properly explained to the judge why I felt forced into signing the confession and believed the rights to mean something different. After losing at the hearing, Ms. Carson did not provide me with adequate time to rehearse before my trial. She allotted only 15 minutes of time to rehearse the day before, and was spending the majority of the time talking to my father instead for no reason. I therefore had to go into the trial without knowing what to say to either her or the prosecutor. Ms. Carson also failed to subpoena important witnesses, such as a psychiatrist who I knew that should have been at the trial. I believed it was important to bring in testimony at the trial from an individual who knew about my mental diagnoses and could provide the judge with an adequate explanation as to why I felt forced into signing the confession in fear of the detectives- but Ms. Carson chose not to bring that individual to the trial. Ms. Carson also refused to allow my friend to testify at the trial who knew important information about the case and had evidence to show I was not guilty for part of what I was being charged with. In conclusion, I would discourage anyone from using Ms. Carson as a defender as she failed to take into consideration how my mental illnesses played a role in my admitting to being guilty on paper, failed to bring up testimony about the treatment I received from the police on the day I was arrested, failed to bring up in court what I thought each Miranda Warming meant and did not mean- and failed to subpoena a very important witness who could better explain to the judge why I felt to afraid to not sign the confession. And she did not allow adequate time to tell me what to say in court before my trial.