Leslie Nitcher

Leslie T. Nitcher was appointed to me as my lawyer after I was arrested for two felony charges of forgery, and possession of a forged instrument. I had never been arrested in my near 50 years. Although I was arrested on two felony charges, Ms. Nitcher told me she was not 'felony qualified' and coul...d only represent me if I were to plead to a misdemeanor. I told her I would do no such thing as I was not guilty of any wrong doing. Even though Leslie Nitcher was appointed as my attorney, I never spoke to her for some 21 days after my arrest. And, if she wasn't felony qualified then why was she representing me? She called me several times at home with offers from the DA's office. She said if I pleaded "Nolo contender" (no contest) then I wouldn't even have to do any community service, no jail time, and just pay court cost. I reminded her I was "innocent" of any wrong doing and they could flog me in the streets and stone me in public. . . .I'd still be innocent. At this point Ms. Nitcher told me the DA was going to charge me with a felony and pursue it and that she wasn't felony qualified so she would not be able to represent me if I plead "Not guilty." Question 1: If I was arrested on two felony charges and Nitcher was not felony qualified, then how is it she was appointed as my attorney? Q2) If Nitcher wasn't felony qualified then why was she relaying plea bargains via the DA? Leslie T. Nitcher also called me and said she needed me to come up with my medical/psych records that would show I was "disabled." This was a result of my advocate informing her that I was a stroke patient and had difficulty remembering things. Leslie Nitcher stated that the DA's office needed this information as well. I therefore sent copies of all my medical/psychiatric records referring to my strokes and brain injury to both Nitcher as well as the DA. Nitcher calls me and say's "No!" "You weren't supposed to send copies to the DA!" Huh? that what she said I needed to do. I don't think I was "adequately" represented. And if the DA went to the grand jury and got an indictment on felony, then was I not "not represented" by an attorney?

I'm a former Marine infantryman who conducted two combat deployments to Iraq. When I came home and discharged from the service I developed PTSD and because of that I became a functioning alcoholic in order to try to cope with my mental condition. To make a long story short my drinking landed me into ...some serious trouble. I was facing a felony unlawful possession of a firearm with the intent to use in conjunction with domestic violence. Before this incident had occurred I had never been in any kind of legal trouble in my life. I was arrested and incarcerated in county jail with a public safety override, meaning that it was going to be very difficult to be released before sentencing. While I was in jail Ms. Nitcher was assigned as my public defender. The District Attorney who was assigned to prosecute me was stereotyping me as a man who was carelessly threatening his wife and law enforcement and was down playing the underlying issues that had happened in my past which had driven me to drinking, which in conjunction with moderate to severe PTSD, drove me to act violently without thinking of the consequences until it was too late. In my opinion Ms. Nitcher did an excellent job in bring the extenuating circumstances of my past to the courts attention. I also feel she did an outstanding job convincing the judge not to give me the maximum sentence, which in my case if I remember correctly could have meant 2 years in state prison, and take into consideration that I am indeed a first time offender and that I have served my country honorably and fought for her freedom. The end result of all of this is that my felony firearms charge was dropped down to misdemeanor menacing. Instead of prison time I'm facing 24 months probation with the veterans docket, and if I obey the orders of the court, the judge will end my probation in 18 months. Now the domestic violence attachment stuck, but because of the nature of my crime, it was no fault of Ms. Nitchers that this part of the charge stuck. She kept me informed as often as humanly possible while I was incarcerated and after I was released from county jail before my conviction. With my permission, she kept my family in the loop as to what was going on with my case and what she planned to do to help me with my case. Overall it is my opinion that Ms. Nitcher conducted herself as a professional, knowledgeable, and passionate lawyer and I would recommend her to anyone who is seeking a defense attorney.