Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

The court in California erroneously listed a duplicate charge through clerical error and my attorney charged me a fee so he could tell the court it was a duplicate/court error. I am the one that alerted him to the error. Is it right for an attorney to charge 2K to tell the court it was a duplicate charge due to their clerical error?

I knew there was no way there would be 2 identical charges on the same day - and I assume the court/judge would realize it was a cleriacal mistake and throw it out - am I right? Or should he have charged me to simply look at the duplicate charge and say "yes it is an error"?

Thanks


Asked on 4/21/12, 2:53 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

The problem that I have with reading your post is your use of the term "duplicate charge." I can't tell whether you were charged with two different cases for the same crime, charged for the crime on two different occasions (double jeopardy) or charged with two violations of same section of the penal code in one case.

There would be no way for me to give you my opinion without knowing what the attorney exactly did that you were charged for. A double jeopardy situation, for example, would be more involved than simply pointing out "clerical error" as you state. But two different case numbers for the same crime seems something that could be easily cleared up with a 5 minute side discussion with the District Attorney.

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Answered on 4/21/12, 8:57 pm
Theresa Hofmeister Theresa Hofmeister, Attorney At Law

I had that same question. Also, didn't the attorney represent you in the case (the one charge)? What you're saying seems to imply he charged you $2,000 to get one ("duplicate") charge dismissed and then walked away. That doesn't make any sense to me.

$ 2,000 is a very reasonable fee to handle a criminal case. Post again with more details if I am missing something.

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Answered on 4/22/12, 2:18 am


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