My fiancé has been accused and charged with multiple charges including 1st degree assault, 1st degree kidnapping, 3rd degree theft, 1st degree robbery. He has weapons enhancements as well since the alleged "victim" claims that he was forced from his bed with a knife (or is it a gun? Depends on which version of the story you hear this time.) There were 2 other guys that were charged with the same crimes and they were all co-defendants however the other 2were split off separately. My fiancé has a public defender who we don't feel confident with. He appears that he is scared to open his mouth when in court. The other 2 defendants stated that they will testify that my fiancé was not there at the time the crime supposedly occurred. He has 2 of the 6 people that he was with that are going to testify that he was with them at the time that this crime supposedly happened as well. My fiancé does not feel that the public defender will help him win his case when it goes to trial. The trial is suppose to start Monday am. He told his defender that he wants a new lawyer and his atty is not really happy about that. So now he really thinks that he will not try to help him win the case. He is innocent of the charges that he is being charged with. How can you commit a crime if you aren't there. The only evidence that the prosecutor has is the "victim" who claims that he was assaulted and the statements given to the police at the time of his arrest. He has been sitting in jail for almost 5 months. The prosecutor came with a plea agreement and he refused to sign it because he isn't guilty of the charges.

A couple of questions,

1) Can my fiancé fire his public defender the morning that trial starts or will that be too late?

2) Now there will be no other agreement given, correct?

3) If he is convicted, how does he go about starting an appeal?

I know nithing about this and any help or where to go to get the info is greatly appreciated. We are in Cowlitz County Longview, Washington

Hello c:

I'm not interested in the story and I don't care if he's guilty or not.

Your fiancé may have waited too long to fire his attorney, but he can sure try. I would too, because by telling him you don't like his services, but you're not firing him, ain't a good thing to do.

He needs to do it by certified mail with a copy sent to the prosecutor and one to the court. The judge should give him a new lawyer.. Let's hope anyway. Once your fiancé makes that determination, he cannot go back on it. He'll really get screwed. If the judge DOESN'T give him a new attorney, your fiancé will have to tell the judge that he can't continue with his defense if he doesn't have a new lawyer. He needs to make sure that the judge understands that.

If he didn't sign anything, there is no agreement. Who knows if they'll offer him another deal.

If he pleads guilty (takes a plea agreement), there is NO appeal.

excon

If he does go to trial and is convicted an appeal would have to be filed within so many days of the trial ending. There would have to be a lot of provable things for an appeal, not just that he was innocent. An appeal is very time consuming and costly and probably won't be taken on by the PD's office either.

It may be too late in the game for hi to fire the PD at this point in time. Should have been done long ago as the Judge may look upon this as a stalling technique on his part.

Thank you both for your answers! I really appreciate it a lot!

I do have another question if you might know the answer.

Can the prosecutor come to him with a plea bargain after the trial has started, or does that have to happen prior to the trial actually starting? I am unsure if once the trial has started, if it is possible to stopped for that reason.

Hello again, c:

The prosecuter can offer a deal up to the very moment he's convicted if he's going to be.

excon