Michael H Pham

Michael Pham represented me in a "domestic violence" case almost 4 years ago. I was 27 years old at the time of the incident and had never been in any trouble with the law, let alone domestic violence. My case was unique in the fact that it involved another man who also has a history of violence, non...e of which, was actually documented. Mr. Pham told me that he could have that case dimissed with probation and my record wouldn't be tarnished. However, the DA wasn't willing to hand over a dismissal so Mr. Pham opted for deferred ajudication. He explained to me that basically, deferred ajudication meant that the charge will fall off my record once I completed probation successfully and, of course, stayed out of trouble for 2 years. A few days ago I over heard a lawyer talking on the phone about this same subject so I decided to get his opinion. He told me that it doesn't come off your record at all. That evening I researched what I was charged with and whether or not, I still had a public record and sure enough, I did. Mr. Pham did not tell me that deferred ajudication, for assult on a family member specifically, doesn't just fall off. This was extremely disheartening for me because despite my degrees and work experience I haven't been able to find a job that is comporable to the time and energy I've invested in my education. Now, I must begin the task of having the record sealed in order to move on and have the life that I've earned. I'm not a blind person, however. I completely understand why domestic violence cases are automatically prosecuted by state, which is in order to keep real offenders from attacking their victims again and again. I however, defended myself. Despite the fact that I explained this incident to Mr. Pham and everything that led up to it, I guess he didn't consider it as self defense or maybe he didn't want to tell me. After all, it was only a $300 defense which almost broke me at that point in time. Point being, Mr. Pham was efficient about getting me into his office, and getting me in and out of court, but was inefficient about the information I really needed. This lack of knowledge about "deferred ajudication" has made every interview that I've had in the passed three years a waste of time. There is no explanation on a public record about "domestic assult." It's simply just exists for any employer to see and when they see it, prejudical accusations are made and there was nothing I could do about it because I didn't know it existed. Bottom line: if he would have told me, I would have been better prepared for disappointment