Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: court appearances

I am a criminal defense attorney of 35 years' experience located in the SF Bay Area.

I have never seen this either, but I have a guess: You see, criminal defendants almost never get written notices of their next court appearance, except for the first one. You seem to be past that stage.

So here is my guess: The judge is concerned that your husband is not receiving "effective assistance of counsel". This mean that although someone has a lawyer, the lawyer is so ineffective (poorly skilled) that the judge fears that any conviction would be reversed on appeal because the accused in effect, had no lawyer at all.

That is the only way I can think of that an criminal defendant would get such a notice. If the judge removes the attorney, he will probably appoint a new one. I assume that this is an appointed attorney rather than a privately retained one.

Unusual case.

Re: court appearances

In my 24 years as a criminal law attorney, I have never heard of anything like you're talking about. I would like to see the notice you speak about. Contact my office at www.wallinlaw.com and fax me the notice and I'll take a look at it and get back to you. David Wallin.