Hi everyone: The search was broken so I couldn’t search for answers.
My question is this: Can a District Attorney prosecute someone on a felony conviction if the date on all the paperwork is wrong? I beleive he knew this, as well no supporting witness statements were submitted on the defendants part, and there were over 20+ statements given to his office.
My question stems from how to approach County Counsel when asking for a reversal?
Thanks so much
Not sure what you’re trying to ask here. How would a DA go about prosecuting a conviction? Usually, when a conviction has been obtained, there’s not much prosecuting left to do.
Sorry, let me reword. A friend went to prison on a conviction he plea bargained out. After the fact, new evidence came up that would, more likely than not, set him free. Contacted the State Bar with complaint on Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Withholding of evidence, conflict of interest (attorney was appointed as Legal Counsel for County for the same crime he was charged with), and numerous other things. To make a long story short, the bar investigated, but will not go further because the Judge and attorney are both sitting on the complaint board making this complaint a conflict. But they did say to pursue criminal charges and civil remedies for this man. We were going to take this in front of the County Counsel and let them know whats up, not ever doing such a thing, I was curious as how to approach this when meeting with them.
You may want to contact you local ACLU branch. They might have some legal advice for you.
:eek:…but, but he accepted the plea…
You don’t approach the prosecutor to ask for a reversal. Their role is essentially over after the case ends. You file an appeal with the state’s appeals court. In general, when someone pleads guilty they lose the right to appeal on most grounds (other than jurisdiction and sentencing). It’s possible/likely that in making a plea deal, your friend explicitly waived the right to appeal.
There’s also a time limit for filing appeals. In many states it’s 60-days after sentencing.
You should check with a lawyer, of course, and not rely on anything you read here at an internet forum. There are oodles of sites online with general information about the appeals process in each state.
It’s unusual, but innocent people have been known to accept pleas if they become convinced that they can’t win at trial. Not saying that’s what happened here, but it’s not unheard of.
But if you plead guilty, you’re admitting to guilt, and generally, when you plead guilty, you waive your right to appeal (with a few exceptions). If I were your friend, I’d definitely check with an attorney, because by pleading guilty, he really narrowed his options.
Hi again, first Thank you for your responses. I should back up…he did accept the plea and I agree it was huge mistake on his part, and he is currently incarcerated. He was coercered into accepting plea. A complaint was filed with the State Bar, after a lengthly investigation, the Bar wrote that a conflict of issue existed with them because said Attorney is on thier trial panel. They did however say that Criminal Charges could be filed and definate grounds for civil damages existed with our complaint against our County who prosecuted him (said Attorney is a Public Defender). I was told to go and talk to County Counsel, not being an Attorney or (afford one for my friend), I was told that giving them the letter from the Bar might get some action on a pre settlement (so to speak) basis. I was curious… if I just go to this meeting and hand Mr. County Counsel the letter from the Bar, or what I should say to him. Thats all. Kind of scared as this is not my neck of the woods. As noted; our County has a huge litigation case load and I’m pretty darn suire they don’t want another one. This info was given to me by a Board of Superviors member. Any suggestions?
Yeah, my suggestion is, you are WAY over the point of asking advice of random anonymous strangers on a message board. If you can’t afford an attorney (and your friend can’t either), look into some assistance, maybe at the very least get some advice from a clinic at a local law school, SOMETHING.
You don’t say what state you’re in, but every state has legal aid societies, where people can go to get free or low cost legal advice. You really should talk to one of them.
ETA: I just looked at your profile and saw you were in California. Here’s a list of legal aid societies in California, by county:
http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/guide/legal_index.shtml
Contact your county’s legal aid society and get advice from them.