Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Your son absolutely needs an attorney. Even though there isn't a public Defender's office in Kings County, that doesn't change the Sixth Amendment and the obligation of the court to provide an attorney to those that qualify.

You need a good criminal defense attorney. I'd strongly suggest you find someone who focuses on criminal law and who routinely practices in the court where this case will be heard. If you cannot afford one, request an appointed attorney at your first court date. There are definitely issues with your son's case.

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He needs an attorney, and the charges are serious. He needs to ask the court to appoint him an attorney. Counties without public defender panels usually use a contract or panel system to appoint attorneys.

The charges are pretty serious. And yes, your son needs a lawyer.

Counties without public defenders still have to provide free lawyers to criminal defendants who can't afford counsel. Some counties have contracts with one or more private law firms that fill the role of the P.D. Others have panels of private attorneys who accept such cases and are paid for doing so. And many have both law-firm contracts and panels.

If you can afford to hire a lawyer for your son then you should do so, even if that entails some serious borrowing. Your son should be able to beat at least some of the charges against him if he has a good lawyer who is able to spend enough time on the case -- and if the facts are as you describe them.

Most public defenders are very good at what they do. They do not remotely deserve their poor reputation. But they are also generally overworked and thus unable to give each case the attention it deserves.

Sadly, lawyers at the firms that contract to replace the public defender are often not nearly as good. Some of them are awful, some are bad, and many are mediocre. There are good ones too, but they are heavily outnumbered. On top of that, the lawyers at these firms are able to spend even less time on a case than a P.D. probably could. Counties that go this route usually just want to spend less than they would on a PD office. That means the firms they hire don't get paid very much. Since the partners expect to profit from the contract, there isn't a lot left to pay the front-line lawyers or to give them the kind of support -- paralegals, secretaries, investigators, clerks, etc. -- a PD office usually provides. And the firm's offices may not be particularly close to the court; when that happens the lawyers have to spend more time traveling, cutting into the time they can spend on substantive work. You get what the county pays for, and the county usually pays only for the bare minimum.

If your county uses a contract firm, that firm may already be representing the other boy. Representing both him and your son would likely create an irreconcilable conflict of interest. If that turns out to be true and if you can't afford a lawyer, then the court would have to appoint different counsel for your son. The county may have a contract with another firm for situations like this, since they come up fairly often. (Larger counties often have multiple PD offices for the same reason.) If it doesn't, then it would turn to a panel attorney. If it somehow doesn't have a panel then it would hire someone specifically for this case.

Individual panel attorneys can be anywhere from excellent to awful, and there is no way to generalize about how much time they will give each case or what kind of support they have in their offices. But they usually are not paid well for this kind of work, so they have an incentive to spend only as much time on a case as they have to.

This does not mean that all privately-retained lawyers are good or that they will handle a case better than a court-appointed lawyer would. Hiring a lawyer yourself is no guarantee of better service. You should do everything you can to ensure that the lawyer you hire will do a good job for your son. That means you and your son should get the best information you can about the criminal defense lawyers in your area, and should interview several if possible. Remember that the costliest lawyers aren't necessarily very good, and the cheapest ones aren't necessarily bad.

Since your son is an adult, his ability to hire counsel should depend only on his own finances. He seems likely to qualify for appointed counsel even if you have enough money to hire someone. But his eligibility will not prevent you from pitching in. Your son's future is at stake here, since a conviction will haunt him for years to come. I encourage you to help him out if you are able, even if doing so will be hard for you.

One final point: even if you pay for the lawyer your son will be the client and you will not. You won't be entitled to be part of any attorney-client communications. In fact, the lawyer will have to exclude you unless your son waives the privilege. (That would be very unwise, and the lawyer should say so to both of you.) You also will not be entitled to control the lawyer's work, though you will be able to set limits on the budget. These facts often come as an unpleasant surprise to family members who pay for a loved one's lawyer. You should be aware of them now.

Good luck.

One thing you might do is check with the DA's office to confirm that charges are being filed. They will know better than the clerk's office. You should do this, or have a lawyer do this, not your son, Under no condition should he contact the DA's office

Most criminal defense lawyers will not charge for an initial interview. Since you may be interviewing lawyers anyway, you may ask one of them to call the DA's office and check while you are in their office.