One of the types of cases we handle is where a client has had a lawyer who has done a very poor job. These cases are called post conviction relief cases. Unfortunately, the standard the courts have for winning a post conviction relief case are very high. Therefore we will try to file other types of motions if at all possible.

In this case, the client was charged with trafficking in cocaine and faced a seven-year minimum mandatory prison sentence. His lawyer did not show up for the trial and the client spent two days in court agonizing over what to do. Several times he complained to the judge that he felt uncomfortable putting his life in the hands of an attorney he did not know. Eventually, the client entered an "open plea" meaning that he did not work out a deal with the prosecution. The trial judge sentenced the defendant to 30 years in prison.

In my entire career, I had never seen a client treated worse by the judge and his own lawyer than by the defendant in this case. It was clearly a case of ineffective assistance of counsel - which is what the motion for post conviction relief is based on. But I decided to exhaust all other options before filing that motion. Once I was hired, I immediately filed a motion to withdraw the plea. The judge denied that motion. I then took an appeal of the judge's denial of the motion and argued in the appeal that not only should the client be allowed to withdraw his plea, but the 30-year sentence was a "vindictive sentence" because there was no rational reason for the sentence to increase from seven years to 30 years. Thankfully I was successful and the appellate court ordered the client to be sentenced before another judge.

One of the lessons here is that before jumping to the ineffective assistance of counsel motion, I worked to file other motions and create a vehicle for an appeal. Any client has two years from the time the appeal is final to file the motion for post conviction relief in state court (one year for a motion in federal court.) I am very grateful for the decision in this case, as the client is a father of two young children with whom he will now be soon reunited.