What to do about charges if a public defender won’t communicate with you?

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What to do about charges if a public defender won’t communicate with you?

The original charge was 11/27/. He was out on $250 bail. He violated his bail by testing positive for marijuana. He has been in jail since 02/15/. He has had 2 ppreliminary hearings scheduled since November, but both have been continued. He has a PD who has only seen him once since he been put back in jail. His next hearing is in April. How long can they hold him on the original charges? At this point should he just plead with time served? I can’t seem to get any answers from his PD nor can he.

Asked on March 22, 2011 under Criminal Law, Pennsylvania

Answers:

MD, Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 13 years ago | Contributor

He needs to make a motion to have his public defender changed due to ineffective counsel. You should also consider championing his cause by speaking with this attorney's supervisor, explaining that while they all have large dockets, he is not zealously advocating for his client and this is ineffective counsel. You want a new lawyer assigned immediately with the goal of getting him out of jail and dealing with these charges while he is out. Further, he needs to bring this motion to court and see if that can get the ball rolling. After this is all done, he may wish to file a complaint against this public defender through the Pennsylvania state bar.


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