Rolando is right a plea cannot be accepted with out counsel being present . You cannot act as your own counsel in this situation. did not see that . sorry .

__________________
The Constitution is not a Technicality!

Me

If you never have dreams they will never come true.

Somethings are worth fighting for !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Ngn...eature=related


Money Talks !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgL8qqjOnlg

I disagree, if they cant get a lawyer and her son is new to all this a good jail house lawyer would be able to help him, as it all needs to be done fast.
a good jail house lawyer wont give you no bull, like court appointed lawyers or even paid ones, a jail house one isnt gonna say you cant do this and that or this dont matter when it obviously does matter. our jail house lawyer has done a thousand times better for us, than any other lawyers.

__________________
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"

"Fall seven times, stand up eight"

"Go back a little to leap further"

Excellence can be obtained if you:
care more than others think is wise;
risk more than others think is safe;
dream more than others think is practical;
expect more than others think is possible.

It certainly can if the defendant was representing himself and the court made the inquiry required by Farretta v. California.

Whoever says private attorneys do not lie to their clients is wrong. My son's attorney lied to me and my son and I paid the man. I gave him every penny of my savings and he still lied. It depends on how close they are with the judge. Maybe you don't understand the "good ole boy" system in the judicial system here but I do, along with many other.
For someone who knows nothing about the law and how it works they must depend on one who does. In our case we depended on the wrong one. In Florida there are many judges and attorneys who belong to the same country clubs, play golf together, have brunch and if the judge like them they can get almost anything they want from that judge. On the other hand, if you are being tried in Florida with no money or prestige, you mean nothing to them. If my son had been guilty he still didn't have enough points against him to merit prison time but he sits, waiting for 7 years of hell to end.
We are appealing but this charge will still be on his record. He is being charged $50.00 a day to stay in jail, plus fines and court costs. His bill to the state when he gets out will be over $127,000.00. For every day he is in jail he will still have to pay $50.00.

It sure was not me who made that comment. I do not know about all of Florida, but the small towns I do, you are completely correct on the political clique going on. Many Floridia residents talk about it all the time. They told us to hire an Attny completely away from the buddy system.

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I did big numbers in TDCJ I think I know about the good ole boy network .

.Something does not sound right here . You do not get seven years based on words they have to have evidence factual or not . In this case medical reports . A first by ear law student would get it tossed with out evidence of assault.

Some one other than the attorney is being less than honest

I've never heard of this . I highly doubt a defense attorney will lie to his or her client . That is based on fiction and groupie talk BS .

It is a insult to defense and appeals attorneys who work very hard it is not a easy job at all . No they do not a hang out together that is the stuff of fiction and groupie talk in reality usually they despise each other .
Yes technically he can represent himself though few if any judges will allow it with out a appointing second chair .


If your son wants help he has to be totally honest never lie to your attorney . The bottom line is , you are going to have to find a very very good appeals attorney

Getting a plea of guilt over turned is next to impossible . No matter what you are told else where .

__________________
The Constitution is not a Technicality!

Me

If you never have dreams they will never come true.

Somethings are worth fighting for !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Ngn...eature=related


Money Talks !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgL8qqjOnlg

ITS FACT some attorneys,paid or other wise are so far up the judges butt anything could happen to you in court, its not just groupie talk as you put it,
getting a guilty plea over turned might seem impossable and probably many will say there is nothing you can do, but it is possible to get one over turned, we are living proof, with truth on your side determination you can do it, we have gone far just with the truth and a jail house lawyer. you just need to stick at it..

__________________
"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams"

"Fall seven times, stand up eight"

"Go back a little to leap further"

Excellence can be obtained if you:
care more than others think is wise;
risk more than others think is safe;
dream more than others think is practical;
expect more than others think is possible.

ASE I agree with your take in this post I Quote. As much as I can understand the good hearted intentions of those who have given their opinions and otherwise legalistic case-law rhetoric, I did not want to come back into the discussion to avoid further causing distress to WorriedMom.

However I wanted to remind those who have commented on this case to read(if you have not), "post-conviction process" that I provided to WorriedMom with a link.

ASE you are absolutely right that "Getting a plea of guilt over turned is next to impossible . No matter what you are told else where."

Even if a competent attorney is hired, and he manages to have the trial court "vacate" the sentence based of whatever evidence the attorney uses, what happens next is for the defendant to find himself right back where he started. With the sentence "vacated" the defendant has gotten rid of the seven years he was originally sentenced to.

That does not mean he walks, mind you. All this "post-conviction" remedy of getting a sentence vacated is
to withdraw the guilty plea and start over. Now he has to hire another lawyer to take his case before a jury trial. If that were not the case, then why bother with all the talk about lawyers. As I said ASE, i too do not believe lawyers lie to a client, with rare exceptions where the lie is a lawyer strategy in a case. It is the other way around, always has been. When this defendant pleaded guilty, he in effect waived all of his constitutional rights to trial by jury and to appeal. If he can manage to get his sentence vacated he
will then be able to take his case before a jury and appeal in case of conviction. All of this is not very intricate or otherwise full of complexities, it is just simple facts of our judicial system.

I am very sorry WorriedMom for your situation. As a parent myself, and as an Ex-Con, again I agree with ASE, who I believe once wrote that it is extremely easy to get into the legal system, but it is pure hell to get out.

With all due respect to those who have made comments in this thread, I would think it better to teach WorriedMom in how to file a post-conviction motion under 3.850. That is the only recourse available to this family. I am sorry I had to re-enter this thread. Good Luck WorriedMom.

A PERSONAL SIDE NOTE:
I would not sell the farm to hire another lawyer if this were my liberty at stake. I would then have to sell the horses and sheep for another lawyer to take my case to trial, and so on, and on and on.

If they do get the plea of guilt overturned and goes to a jury, I would suggest to hire a lawyer outside of that town.

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First, I believe jailhouse lawyers are some of the best "attorneys" in Florida. They have the time to study and they do alot of that.
Second, none of you know the whole story so I can't expect you to give advice on something you don't know. I'm sorry I asked.
Third, if you have never dealt with this "good ole boy" system then it would be hard for you to understand that it even exists. When judges are voted into power, as they are here, they will always keep the rich people happy. They wants their votes again.
Fourth, if a judge will convict a 16 year old boy with DOWNS SYNDROME and give him 10 years in a state prison for stealing a six-pack of beer, then he will do just about anything else. This same judge gave my son 7 years and told him he was luck he signed the plea deal with a 7 year cap. If my son had not signed it the judge said, "I would have given you 35 years". There was no proof. Only the words of the so called victims. We will get thru this and help my son make a better life when he gets out but what America fails to understand is this: If you don't educate yourself in the legal system, you could be sitting where my son is one day. And you don't have to be guilty to be there.