Elizabeth Durbin Bales

Even with the cut backs and the court room full she works hard to talk with every client she is given and fight on their behalf. She is one of the best public defenders I have worked ever dealt with. Even though shes young, shes good at what she does. My offense was reduced and we were given a good offer that was justified with the actual facts of the case.

I was referred to Beth by another attorney who I had retained but then retired. She gave Beth rave reviews but from the Intial phone conversation I had bad feelings about Beth's work ethic. She was very rude on the phone from our first call. I trusted her and from day 1 asked "do you have my best interest in mind" I asked several times if she was here to help abd she always said YES But over the corse of the 8 months working with her I got the cutest impression 1. She was overworked and was carrying too many cases 2. She was acting like a Paid public defender and not my attorney or more to the point a true defense attorney. Wile she had video evidence given to her from my previous attorney I was never shown this video, even after asking several times. I do not believe Beth ever watched it or took the time to familiarize herself with the details of my case due to several statements made throughout. She did however ask for 6 months of PPX continuances thus wasting my time, my life and eating up the retainer paid. When it finally came time to work a deal well th the DA her outlook on my case was unrealistic and she never once questioned the exaggerated charges put against me. Several times I pointed out that the charges did not meet the decreiption of th laws on the books. I arrived bed in court early on each apperence date ready to discuss the details of my pre-trial Constance. On one date she arrived 2.5-3hrs late to court and only text me minuntes before arriving. That day I was a wreck in court thinking she had gotten in a car accident or something worse coming back from court in Lake Tahoe . We spoke briefly about a deal presented by the DA and in one of her last emails it sounded like their were options on the table. I emailed her a week out of my final court date to discuss the details of this deal. Beth replied she was in court in Amador country and asked if I would be around during the weekend for a call. I replied YES I'll be home all weekend. This was a 3day holiday weekend. I stayed home waiting for Beth's call as I knew the details of this deal were very important. Did she call ..NO! 5:00 Monday night I left her a message saying I was very concerned that she did not contact me as she said she would. I received an email early Tuesday morning saying she would see me at 1:00 in court to discuss my case. I arrived in court to Beth being very abbraisive , short and flat out rude to me. In the confrance room she said she was officially dropping my case due to "conflict if interests" She also explained that she has spoken with another attorney about my case and gave me his number as a referral. Up until this point Beth did nothing but take my checks. Show up late to court, didn't present discovery or evidence given to her to me the client. Beth is a great person , and extremely kind and as an attorney I think she means well but is very overworked and details get forgotten or not addressed the way the should. If it's your life, your future..... find someonelse. Beth just wasted 6+ months of my life abd took my money, issued my as recipt totaling the amount paid and dropped my case rightin the day I thought this would be over. You should have done better for me than this Beth!!