Can I fire the public defender who is assigned to me after the pre-trial hearing?

I wouldn't think of it as firing the public defender since you were not paying that person to defend you. If in the U.S. you are free to try as many lawyers as you like to defend you in your case. But, changing lawyers a lot might not make you look too good in the eyes of a judge. I have seen it where a judge has told the accused that they had "buyer's remorse" because they had been through so many different attorneys.

I'm sure that others will be along to address your question.

Thanks!

The judge may let you "fire" this particular public defender and appoint another for you. Generally after the second appointed public defender the judge will not appoint another one for you and tell you to hire your own. Be sure to get it right the second time as if you don't have any money to pay for an attorney, you'll essentially be stuck with the second attorney whether you like that person or think they're doing a good job. Public defenders can be private criminal attorneys who contract with the court for cases and are paid way less per hour than if you were to hire them privately. Say a good criminal attorney would charge you $150 an hour, if he contracts with the court and takes court appointed cases, he will charge $50 an hour (or whatever that particular county's hourly rate is paid to court appointed attorneys). Not all the public defenders are at the Public Defender's Office, a lot are private attorneys looking to either help out the court or looking to pick up some extra money.

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Originally Posted by leo393tls

can i fire the public defender who is assigned to me after the pre-trial hearing?

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You can dismiss/discharge any Attorney at any time. Are you then going to replace the public defender with a private Attorney or what are your plans for legal representation?