Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Innocent of drug charges and trying to protect her future.

Either hire an attorney or apply for the Public Defender.

Re: Innocent of drug charges and trying to protect her future.

These are all legitimate questions. Your daughter needs a lawyer - period. If public defender has a conflict, the court will appoint someone either from the Office of the Alternate Public Defender or Bar Panel. She has an absolute right to a court appointed lawyer.

Jacek W. Lentz, Esq.

213.250.9200

www.lentzlawfirm.com

Re: Innocent of drug charges and trying to protect her future.

If your daughter is indigent and the public defender has a conflict (which is often true in multi-defendant cases), an attorney from another office will be appointed to represent her at public expense. Some counties have multiple public defenders in order to deal with situations like this. Others retain private counsel for the defendant when the public defender can't serve.

It is unlikely that your daughter could have her case severed from that of her codefendant, but severance is sometimes possible. Her lawyer will know whether the option is available to her and, if so, whether it is worth pursuing.

Good luck.

Re: Innocent of drug charges and trying to protect her future.

No court appointed attorney is going to do very much for her; try harder to find the money for a private attorney. Also, although I hate to say it, criminal defendants are notorious liars, and cocaine users are bigger liars than that. I have never had a cocaine defendant come to me who did not also have a BS story about how poor she is. If she can afford cocaine, she can afford a lawyer. You should carefully consider the possibility that she is lying to you.