Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Public defneder doesnt belileve in my innosense

Your public defender cannot force you to take a deal you don't want to take, and he can't bail out on the eve of trial to leave you unprepared and in pro per. You may be able to fire him and proceed in pro per if that's what you want, but doing that -- especially at this late stage -- would be beyond stupid. And as for your plan to tell the judge you need extra time to learn how to do the job of the lawyer you just fired, well, let's just say the odds are not in your favor on that one.

If you want to go to trial you have the right to do so. If you want to refuse a plea bargain you have that right as well. If you do these things and lose, you may very well be stuck with a much worse punishment than the one you are being offered now.

Your public defender doesn't need to believe you are innocent; he will still do his best to protect your rights. Believe me, public defenders very often defend clients they believe are guilty, and any lawyer who isn't willing to do that would never take such a job in the first place.

But you need to re-examine your position. The fact that you have gone through a lot of proceedings has nothing to do with whether the deal you have been offered is a good one. It also probably has very little to do with the chances of you being convicted. Those are the things you need to look at.

You may not think the police officer had a good reason to stop you, but if your trial is coming up in four days chances are that your lawyer has already made this argument and has lost. If the jury hears evidence that convinces them you're guilty, they won't care at all about your opinion of the arrest -- in fact, they won't even hear it.

Only you can decide whether the deal you are being offered is a good one, but to make this decision you need to have some idea of how likely you are to be convicted and what sentence you are likely to receive. This is where your lawyer's expertise comes into play, so don't just assume that you know best and he doesn't have a clue. It is almost certainly the other way around.