Timothy P. Martin

Do your self a favor if you like your freedom keep looking this so call lawyer destroy my case by doing a 402 conference which he said was in my best interest the video show no wrong doing in my behalf I don’t even think he look at the video. I fired him but the damage was done already with the 402 ...conference. My second lawyer i hired said he should have taken it to bench trial and this case would have been over with me winning since the video show nothing now am looking at 18 mMonths in prison becase of what the judge knows in my background and it’s not a good ideal anymore too do any type of trial so I took a pea deal

I was recommended this attorney by another friend who got off with a much serious case than I with much more evidence. I was 19 years old and was tried for a DUI with no breathalyzer records or video recording. Mr. Martin convinced me after paying almost $10,000 that he would have this dismissed. wit...hout a problem. typical attorney. I followed all the requirements and they never had any evidence other than verbal claims. He did not care nor try. He did not even try to get my record cleared when I was only 19 years old when this happened and had no solid evidence against me. I paid extra to do what I can because I knew my future relied on it but he did not take my case seriously. I have friends in police departments across Chicago and suburbs that are amazed how little he did for me and how this record will stick with me forever and has caused me loss of career opportunities 8 years later. Mr. Martin made supervision seem like a golden ticket that no one would notice. He is a false promiser and a liar. I regret every day that I hired such a low attorney. I must mention to all facing DUI's, I did not blow in a breathalyzer and there was no video evidence. I would've been better off with a pro-bono. DO NOT HIRE FOR DUI!!!!

I originally hired another attorney who inturn had me hire Mr. Martin in late 2000 after being charged with sexual abuse of a teenage male. That cost me two $10,000.00 retainers and $2,000.00 for a private investigator that was never hired. I just got out of prison 2 months ago. I refused to take a ...plea deal and went to trial. In the months before trial, Mr. Martin started saying things that should have made me fire him. I didn't and i regret it to this day. He told me he was not going to ruin his reputation in the community over my case. That if the state offered me a good plea deal and i didn't take it he would withdraw. (He didn't) He would change his stories about investigations that were supposedly going on to prove the police were not telling the truth in their reports. During trial he didn't call any witnesses for the defence. He didn't admit any thing into evidence even though there were over 30 inconsistent statements and I had proof that I was not in town or working on the days it was claimed to have happened. During jury selection he implied I was gay giving the jury the idea that I was a person that would have sex with a male even thow I have never admitted to being gay and I don't live a gay life style. He basically only asked the state's witnesses different versions of the same questions the state asked providing no reasonable doubt. He even went as far as to apologies to the alleged victim when he was on the stand for having to come to court and testify. In closing arguments he even admitted that some claimed acts did happen. After trial, when I wrote him a letter criticizing the states attorney, he wrote me back saying that "no one held a knife to your head and forced you to commit the crime." Just what you want to here from your defense attorney. In the end it cost me 14 years in prison and over $82,000.00. When i hired Mr. Martin, he was lead named partner in his law firm. After my case he left that firm and started another. I believe he has done that one more time after that. One has to wonder why he keeps doing that. If you plan on hiring this man you better ask youself the question, do I want to take the chance of this happening to me and is that the way an attorney should act no matter what the crime? I thought you were entitled to a vigorous defence no matter what. Not in my case.

Perhaps if your case is worthy of his attention, he may do a great job. I suspect this may be true, but my case clearly was insignificant to him and while 6k was spent for the defense, he only seemed interested in striking a deal. I know people who get arrested often lie about their innocence but I ...really was in this case (innocent) and I couldn't live with the horrible unfair charge. This was during the period he was going through a divorce so maybe it affected his performance but after clearly dealing with indifferent ( and condescending) advice, he flat out told me I was lucky I didn't get a more horrific charge that what I received and I had no defense!! Now when you are innocent of the original charge and then have your own lawyer accuse you of something worse, was unbearable. I am not an unreasonable person but this was totally unfair. So I decided to get a different attorney. I will put his name out there. Bitterness (especially since I won) is not healthy or the right approach - but I can't help it. Let me also mention that when I informed Mr. Martin ( nicely through voicemail since he never returned a call) that I retained another attorney, not only did not respond but his office never sent any of the defense documents. His office has video footage and statements that we never had access to for our defense. His office probably still has this stuff. I know he could have gotten in trouble over this but what a horrible thing to do. He never returned any money ( he made an easy 6k) - of course he had the right to keep the amount for the time he put in but believe me, the hours would have not been much if he were honest. I know things happen, but no one from his office showed up for one of the initial court dates- can't remember why but I really can't believe our experience was unique. Again, the year was 2009 and perhaps this was a tough year for him, but there was no excuse for the insensitive comments he made and the callous attitude when someone's reputation is on the line. So let me conclude by warning anyone who is considering have Mr. Martin defend them. FACT: A case that he insisted was unwinnable was creamed in court - easily as the transcript will show. Mr. Martin argued ( argued!) that I should take the plea- and frustratingly did not want to take it to court. When I refused any deal that I would have to plea guilty to knowing I was innocent- he responded that I was lucky I didn't get a worse charge. Shame on him and hopefully I will help someone avoid a horrible experience. Thank you.

Save your money...........Tim Martin wasted my time and charged me well above average for a criminal case. Tim said "it looks like we can win"....Well we didnt! He does not return calls timely and always is "talking" to the prosecution. I was thrown under the bus with this "deal" maker. Makes you cur...ious exactly what he has up his sleeve....Not Trusting at all.......lNot recommended!