Legal Question in Criminal Law in Georgia

Re: Jury Trial or Plea Bargain?

How late a defendant can wait to take the plea is somewhat bound by the judge. I practice in front of some judges that will accept a plea halfway through a trial and other judges refuse to accept on after "plea and motion" days. This is something that only your attorney could tell you.

There are many different types of motions. A motion in liminie may be heard just prior to trial and a motion to supress would be heard on a motion hearing day. Those are but two examples and even those are not hard and fast rules. Most lawyers and judges prefer to hear motions ahead of time. This is so if the evidence is suppress or the case dismissed they have time to deal with it. However, if the motion requires testimony of a witness who is out of state (for example) it may be heard on the day of trial due to logistic problems. As an attorney, I never want a motion heard on the day of trial bc there may be issues that need to go up on appeal.

I do not know enough about your situation to answer the question about the attorney. I will say, in all fairness, that cases evolve as the evidence develops. Sometime you end up with a different problem than was presented to you in the office on the first day. This can be for multiple reasons from mistatements by the client to developing evidence. However, some attorneys do just want to make sure they get paid. There are bad apples in every bunch. You need to sit down and discuss these issues with your attorney in a realistic approach. Unfortunately, these are the types of problems that some encounter when they shop for an attorney based on fee and not reputation. Good luck.