Frederick William Fascenelli Jr

Fred is the 5th paid lawyer I have used during my criminal career. My connect spoke so highly of him I was naturally skeptical. But after losing all 4 of my prior cases (2 of which I should’ve won), I gave him a shot. INITIAL CONTACT - I sent him a text explaining my case. It was after 6pm & I did...n't expect a reply but he called right back & set up a meeting. He was calm & reassuring. HIS OFFICE - Before meeting, I looked at his "office" on Google Maps. It's pretty cool, a big old 2 story house converted to offices. There was plenty of free parking. His office was upstairs & unique. He doesn't mess w a receptionist or share space w other lawyers. He answers the door himself. The décor is all dark brown wood & perfectly suited to the "house" it's in. I felt comfortable. OUR MEETING - My case was complicated w many unknowns. I wasn't even sure of the charges against me. He heard me out, then made a single call to the DA's office & sweet-talked his way into getting the info I had been unable to get myself. I felt like I was watching the Rockford Files. His fee was surprisingly reasonable as was the payment plan. And it was in our agreement that if he got the case dropped right away, I'd get a substantial portion of my fee back. What criminal defense lawyer does that?! COURT APPEARANCES - My case took many turns over the next 16 mos. Fred was exceptional at playing the delay game and stringing things out when I wanted him to. He consistently manipulated the court into moving my case to the front of the line so we could leave before anyone else. (If you've been to court a few times, you KNOW that's a big deal.) It was truly impressive how he managed to pull it off so many times. In fact, on more than 1 occasion, he was the last lawyer to check in, he'd apologize for being late, & we'd STILL be the 1st to leave! (There is nothing like walking out of a courthouse at 9:30am, removing your stupid jacket & tie & feeling alive again!) All of that was fantastic but I still wasn’t sure he was up to the complexities of my case or if he'd end up doing what each of my previous lawyers did - talk a good game but in the end, pressure me to take a deal rather than resist & fight the good fight. Fred isn't even aware of this but at some point, I lost faith in him. It wasn’t his fault. The DA refused to offer me less than 4 years & I didn't know what Fred was thinking because he’d get us out of court so fast, we barely had time to talk. I always felt my case was pretty good but I'd lost good cases before & I started to panic. I had another referral to a top lawyer in LA so I decided to meet w her. But when she called back, I wasn't impressed. She barely listened to the facts, said we didn’t need to meet & threw out a fee of $25,000 that had to be paid in full before she’d take over the case. Looking back, it was the best thing that ever happened. $25K was SO MUCH HIGHER than what I was paying Fred, I accepted I was “stuck” w him & from that day forward, I put all my faith & trust in him & RELAXED. I stopped wearing suits to court & sure enough, the momentum changed. Fred admitted he didn't know a ton about some of my charges - counterfeiting & trademark infringement of pharmaceuticals - but he did research at night & what struck me was he actually enjoyed it. It wasn’t drudgery to him at all - he got off on learning new stuff. (It's really good when your lawyer talks like that!) THE RESULT – At my prelim which lasted all day, Fred went toe-2-toe w the paid experts flown in by the DA. But the truth is defendants NEVER win at the prelim. Judges ALWAYS hold cases over for trial w the scantest of evidence. But not this time. In closing, Fred was so persuasive, the Judge threw out the charges on the spot & my case was over. Not only that, but now he’s pursuing a civil case on my behalf against the cops, the police dept, the drug co. & the P.I.'s they paid to set me up. Yah, I recommend this guy & his ever-present magical chapeau.