Floresville, TX Criminal Defense Law Firms & Lawyers

In a situation like this you can only make things worse for yourself by speaking directly to the DA. You need to get an attorney to fight for a dismissal.

I am assuming that you mean a new public defender. Unlike firing a paid attorney, you need a reason to fire your public defender. The fact that you don't like him/her or do not feel (s)he is doing a good job for you may not be enough. A judge is more likely to permit you to change public defenders if your current lawyer is somehow violating your right to adequate representation. Some evidence of that could be: 1. Missing appointments or filing deadlines, 2. Not informing you about your case status or hearing dates, 3. Forcing you to enter a plea, or 4. Ignoring important evidence. To change your public defender, you generally need to write a letter to the judge in your case or contact the public defender's office, depending on the rules in your state. Make sure you keep good notes of what you believe to be the biggest problems with your attorney. There's a chance a judge will grant your request if you have good reason to change public defenders. But they're unlikely to grant a second request, so make sure you really do need a new lawyer. Before you file any paperwork, make sure that you talk to your current public defender. Sometimes the issue isn't that your attorney isn't doing the work, it's a communication problem. Tell your attorney about what is making you unhappy, and see if something can be done to change it.

There are generally three levels of police-citizen encounters: consensual encounters, investigative detentions and arrest. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects you from unreasonable searches and seizures -- in your house and on the street. The key word here is unreasonable. If the police do not restrain your freedom of movement in any way, they may approach you to ask you a few questions. So long as a reasonable person in your situation would feel free to walk away, go about their business and disregard the request, the law considers this to be a consensual encounter rather than a seizure and the police are not required to have any suspicion of wrongdoing to initiate the contact. If a law enforcement officer has a reasonable and articulable suspicion that you are engaged in (or are about to engage in) criminal activity, he or she can stop and detain you briefly to investigate. Reasonable suspicion is a standard lower than probable cause. However it must be more than a hunch. This is called an investigative or Terry stop -- named after a landmark 1968 Supreme Court decision in the case of Terry v. Ohio. Such a stop is a seizure, but the law considers it to be one that is justified and reasonable absent probable cause. During the stop, you may be asked questions and to produce identification. You should produce identification when asked. You can refuse to answer other questions. Any stop during which the police restrain your freedom of movement so that a reasonable person in your situation would not feel free to walk away, is considered to be an arrest. This requires the police to have probable cause to believe you have committed, are committing or are about to commit a crime. If you are stopped, I recommend you produce your identification. If you are asked any other questions, ask the officer if you are free to leave. If he or she says yes, go ahead and do so. If you are told no or not until you answer some questions, insist on a lawyer before answering, even if it means a trip to the station house.