Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

I'm glad you asked. Any attorney can wear a suit and tie and stand next to the defendant in court. A private attorney will thoroughly prepare the case for trial. If you look through the LawGuru Knowledgebase, you will find many instances of people who thought a public defender was just as good as a private attorney, and they were wrong. While I am sure there must be good and conscientious public defenders, they may have hundreds of cases at a time. They are unlikely to do substantial work interviewing witnesses or performing legal research at the law library. In many cases we have heard of lawyers, and this applies to some private attorneys as well, who do no trial preparation and simply tell the defendant that he has no choice except to plead guilty. In your boyfriend's case, the case could have many outcomes ranging from an acquittal or dismissal of the charges, to involuntary manslaughter, to murder. The offense, if any, that he is ultimately found guilty of will determine whether he gets a relatively short jail sentence or a very, very long prison sentence. I would be happy to meet with you, and the defendant's immediate family if you like, and discuss the case in great detail including the possible defenses and the costs involved. Please feel free to email or call anytime.

He can bill you.

If you qualify for the Public Defender, you probably don't have the ability to pay the substantial fees of private counsel, so it doesn't matter the answer to your question.