It's his lawyer's job to depose (ask questions to and get statements from) his witnesses, and to the other tasks like get copies of reports, forensics, or whatever else as part of the process (look up: "legal discovery").
Aggravated Kidnapping
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01-27-2008, 07:30 AMaardvarcRe: Aggravated Kidnapping
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01-29-2008, 02:23 PMwater_billsRe: Aggravated KidnappingSo.. what if that doesn't happen? It's been a year.. as far as I know (after visiting my friend on Sunday) no one has collected any vital information or interviewed potential witnesses.. and it is probably too late now.Quote:
Quoting aardvarc
Would that be considered misrepresentation or something? -
01-29-2008, 02:27 PMseniorjudgeRe: Aggravated KidnappingAre you saying you are in jail and no charges have been filed against you?Quote:
Quoting water_bills
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01-29-2008, 02:40 PMwater_billsRe: Aggravated KidnappingNo, I am not in jail.. my friend is. He has been charged with aggravated kidnapping.Quote:
Quoting seniorjudge
Basically.. he goes to trial in March. If he is found guilty, can he use the lack of interest in vital information by his lawyer to appeal the conviction? -
02-26-2008, 02:17 PMusedbranflakesRe: Aggravated Kidnapping
You must have mistaken the police for an organization that is out to prove someone is innocent. Just the opposite; their job is to arrest and gather the evidence required for a conviction. Apparently both they and the DA are satisfied with the evidence.
If the attorney is not taking action then your boyfriend or brother (you are awful tied to this guy) needs to pay the attorney to hire an investigator, be it a P.I. If he has people who are willing to testify on his behalf, and has paid his attorney well, then there are some discovery elements that the lawyer would normally be conducting. Defending a case like this would be $10k-$20k, on average; a $5k minimum will get a quick discovery and review, interview of witnesses the day before court, and likely 1-2 days in court. Your boyfriend likely missed the boat in getting videotapes from these stores showing her willing entry as well as getting statements or affadavits from the store workers or the store manager. Every week that passes makes it exponentially more difficult in getting the evidence needed for acquittal. ...and that evidence, as well as the witness list, would have to be shared with the prosecutor.
This sounds like a psycho woman and a DV charge at a minimum and a psycho ex-girlfriend and a kidnapping at a maximum.
By the way "That's just retarded" makes sense,
...but it's not a valid defense.
He needs to talk to his attorney to see what he can do to help his case. -
02-26-2008, 02:20 PMusedbranflakesRe: Aggravated Kidnapping
...and an appeal for "ineffective counsel" is difficult to get. I have seen cases (one in NC) where the attorney fell asleep during an important part of the trial and the court of appeals denied the appeal.
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03-05-2008, 04:32 PMwater_billsRe: Aggravated Kidnapping
And here is an update...
I accidentally posted this in the wrong thread so yeah..
My friend was scheduled to go to trial on the 10th of March, and he had pretrial yesterday (of which I attended). This is all in Utah by the way. At his pretrial it was revealed that there was a conflict of interest in his representation. It turns out that the lawyer that my friend was given through the court had an associate who was helping him with the case. The associate also teaches classes at Dixie State College. They just found out on Monday that the alleged victim in my friend's case was a student of this associate.
What happened was that the associate was teaching class and brought up a scenario asking the students what they would do if they were presented with such a case. The scenario just so happened to be my friend's case. After the class, my friend's ex-girlfriend approached the associate at which point the conflict of interest was realized.
Because of all of this, the lawyer can no longer represent my friend and a new lawyer is to be assigned to him.
The problem here is that the whole case is now jeopardized and there is no way that my friend can receive a fair trial. The associate disclosed pertinent information to my friend's case without realizing it. In my opinion, he should have made the connection at the beginning of the semester as my friend has been in jail now for almost a year. There was more than enough time for him to realize she was a student of his, and not to disclose information, especially in the way that he did.
I am very concerned that the prosecution is going to come at my friend now with a horrible deal because there is no way that he will be able to get a fair trial now (when he was about to go to trial with evidence proving his innocence). I'm hoping that someone could offer me some alternatives here so that I can help him out. It's a completely messed up case. Could anyone give me any advice on the matter?
Thank you very much. I know it was a lot of text to read.
Now in response to one of your replies.. what is a DV??