I attained Manny Jacobo through Chandler Municipal Court for 2 misdemeanor cases. A week prior to my pre-trial conference I reached out to his office and let them know I was calling to see if there was anything Mr. Jacobo needed from me prior to my court date. Mr. Jacobo called me back later that aft...ernoon on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2024.
I asked if he would like me to come to his office to go over anything prior to my court date. Mr. Jacobo told me no and he will just talk to me on my court date. I asked if there was a way to go over the discovery the prosecutor sent because there are a lot things I have questions about. He said he will have plenty of time to discuss everything I have questions about prior to my hearing that was at 8:30 AM. I then asked if there was an option for me to obtain the discovery the prosecutor has if I went to the court house since he doesn't want to meet with me prior to my court date. He told me I'm, "Just asking him the same question twice hoping to get a different answer from him." He went on to tell me he has a lot of different clients and he meets with them all on their court date and it would be unfair to his other clients he's representing to meet with me prior to my court date because he gives everyone the same amount of time. I was taken back by that because typically a defense attorney doesn't have a problem with meeting their clients especially to go over their case. I let him know I was just very confused on the entire case because I haven't been explained really anything because the prosecutor told me I needed to speak with my attorney (Mr. Jacobo) with any questions. He then began to belittle me by saying, "I'm perplexed you don't know much about your case. You were there when you had police contact weren't you?" I told him I was there, but the officers didn't do a lot of explaining to me and didn't get a print out of my charges when I went to Chandler Municipal Court for my first appearance. He responded snarky saying, "Nobody writes down charges on paper and gives it to you at courts anymore - That's old school."
Well I wasn't aware of this because I'M NOT A LAWYER. After 5 minutes on the phone with Mr. Jacobo and being the recipient of his passive aggressive and just plain rude behavior I finally asked if this was a good time to speak with him. I thought surely something has to be off for an attorney to be so rude and condescending towards a client. I asked if he was alright and if he was having a long day (I was genuinely asking). That question sent him over the edge and he response by calling me "BRO" and telling me not to focus on his day and to just focus on my day.
So after 7-10 minutes with Mr. Jacoby over the phone where he was rude, facetious, lacked any compassion for me just trying to figure out the process of court, and calling me "BRO" I ended the call.
I went to open court the following day at Chandler Municipal Court and the judge took Mr. Jacobo off my case and allowed a new attorney to represent me. From what I have been told, judges do not typically do this unless there is a very good reason. I suppose I was "lucky" enough to have a good reason.
I'd rather show up to court without a lawyer over letting Mr. Jacobo represent me. I don't know if he was just having a bad day or if this is his normal behavior, but I don't want anything to do with this man.