Steven Michael Marks

Was solicited by Mr. Marks when I got a reckless driving ticket (78 in a 55) in Caroline County. Went with him because he was the only lawyer who contacted me from that area, and after talking said he knew the officer and felt confident he could get the charge dismissed or at very least a low speedin...g ticket. He told me to get my speedometer calibrated and to take a defensive driving course, both of which could help me make my case. I did both. He was not terribly responsive, but I figured for $250, no big deal. I was a bit surprised though when I got word of the court results. My ticket was reduced to speeding, but a very high speeding (74 in a 55) and he told me I had to take a defensive driving course. I reminded him that I had done that, and sent him the certificate upon completion. He then recalled that and I suppose sent that in for me. What is unfortunate is that I wonder if he had talked about my proactivity on this matter based on his advise if the charge might have been lessened, as he had thought it might be on our first conversation.

Marks got 3 continuations in my case of sending threatening text messages because a detective was working the case to find out who actually sent the messages under my name. Over the course of 8 months, Marks never interviewed any prosecution witnesses, never bothered sending a subpoena to the detecti...ve and rarely returned my calls and emails. On the day of trial, he scared me into accepting a "no contest" plea deal for something I didn't do by telling me that a felony conviction was an automatic 6-month sentence. I realized after court that I could have been found guilty because Marks had done relatively nothing on my case. When I expressed my dissatisfaction with his representation, his flippant reply was, "If you're dissatisfied, you can appeal and the State can bring back the felony". I took this as another scare tactic. I am appealing my case under Insufficient Counsel and sending a letter of complaint to the Bar Association.