Donald S. Davidson

I was FALSELY accused of stalking, by a woman in my church that I made some unwelcome advances too. The detective only had me arrested for harrassment, and was going to drop the case, but because the lady was a local celebrity, the D. A. decided to prosecute me for stalking. Because I could not a...fford a quality attorney (I wish I had this resource to find a quality attorney that does ProBono cases), Mr. Davidson was appointed by the court to represent me. He did not even give me time to listen to my side of the case until the day before the trial was set. The trial was rescheduled, and 2 days before the trial, he called me FROM THE DA'S OFFICE, and urged me to plead guilty. I protested and said "I can't plead guilty because I'm not guilty." The DA and the DA investigator that were there (it was on speaker phone on their end) told me that I would be right if it was burglary, but stalking is a gray area of the law, and, although they knew my intentions were honorable, the young lady was scared (because of previous encounters in the past in HER life that did not involve me), that I could be prosecuted. The practically coerced me to plead guilty, and Mr. Davidson went along with them, EVEN THOUGH they KNEW I had honorable intentions. They assured me that, after 2 years probation and deferred adjudication, the case would be dropped, that there would be no conviction, and implied it would have no further affect on my life. What Mr. Davidson failed to tell me was the full implications. First of all, I lied in court by admitting guilt, and by saying there were no deals made. Secondly, 4 years later, it is still on my records, and I can't get a decent apartment because of it. I choose to forgive Mr. Davidson, but I was hurt because of his actions.