Terry R Sutton

I hired this lawyer in 2017 for a criminal matter. He would not even speak to me until I paid his fee. As a result of my anxiety and the distance, I was unable to meet with him in person until over a year after I hired him, so most of my contact with his firm was via his "paralegal". He never did any... research into why my case didn't seem to go the way "normal" cases do. An entire year passed and I was never charged with any crime. Finally, in December 2018, I am charged with two of the three original charges. BY the time I met Mr Sutton, he did not seem to know anything about the specifics of my case and I realized too late, that Mr Sutton seemed to not know anything about the strategy of my defense! I immediately began interviewing other prospective lawyers to represent me for the upcoming EDC court. After reading the now available police report, (Mr Sutton's paralegal was never able to obtain the police report in the year his firm represented me!), the other lawyer's were able to point out the flaws in my case right away and point out to my husband and I why I was never charged with one of the charges! I "fired" Mr Sutton and hired another attorney on 12/12/2018. I then asked for an accounting of the "retainer" I gave Mr Sutton for the EDC, paid in full on October 27, 2017. When I finally demanded my money back, I was given every excuse under the sun, including, that Mr Sutton was no longer with the firm and that another lawyer was taking over for him. It is now February 1, 2019 and I have yet to see an accounting for my initial fee nor a refund. I feel I have no choice but to report Mr Sutton to the State Bar and file paperwork for arbitration. His firm no longer returns my phone calls. The old adage is true in this case: You get what you pay for. Mr Sutton is not an expensive lawyer and you definitely get what you pay for in this case. I hired him in October 2017 for a DUI, Assaulting a Police Officer and Resisting arrest. I had a seizure during the arrest. His paralegal collected all of my medical records and we waited a year and 2 months for the charges to "drop". I feel Mr Sutton did not put AY effort into ANYTHING with regard to my case. His paralegal collected my documents and read all of my emails...a year of them. Mr Sutton never questioned why my police report was not released nor anything else. He never wondered why my drivers license was never revoked...even though I refused consent for the mandatory blood draw. I didn't even lay eyes on Mr Sutton until over a YEAR after I hired him and didn't even get to speak to him until I paid him. Now, I cannot get 10 CENTS back from the $3500.00 I gave him and he never even spent 10 SECONDS in court for me.