Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: how to lose inadequate public defender

The answer is quite easy if you want to hire an attorney. You hire

the new attorney, and the new attorney will draft a form called

"Substitution of Attorney" that tells the public defender, the

court, and the prosecutor that there is a new attorney involved. THe

new attorney will get the file from the public defender.

Replacing one public defender with another is more difficult. You

would need to file a complaint with the chief public defender of the

judicial district in which the case is being heard.

Police reports: It is my practice to give my client copies of all

police reports in the case. He could then share those reports with

you, his parents (if the jail will let him). If there aren't many

police reports, I could also copy them without charge to the parents.

If the reports are volluminous, I would reserve the right to charge

the parents because I am already giving the reports to my client at

no charge.

I hope this email answers your questions. I would be happy to talk to

you on the telephone if you have further questions.

Herb Kroon

Re: how to lose inadequate public defender

1. Since I am not a public defender, my understanding of how to 'fire' your public defender as your lawyer is limited. But, I'll offer my understanding, in the hope it may help a bit, but you will need to confirm elsewhere before relying on it. I understand that a client does not have the right to "fire" his public defender and replace with another public defender. I believe that is within the discretion of the current public defender and-or their office's supervisors -- to make that call. (Though, it may be possible to make a motion to a judge to compel this -- the motion might or might not be granted.) However, a criminal defendant can always fire their lawyer -- whether public or private. How so? A defendant can hire a private lawyer to replace their public defender (of course, the private lawyer will need to be paid by someone, somehow). Also, a defendant can fire their lawyer and defend themselves as "attorney pro se" -- a terrible idea, in my opinion. Most public defenders I know are good lawyers. As you may know, public defenders offices are chronically underfunded with overly heavy work-loads. There may be political reasons for this.

2. Defendants do have a right to discovery of evidence against them under the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure and the state a federal constitutions. That right is normally considered satisfied, in terms of the prosecutor's obligations, when the required information is provided to defense counsel. Defense counsel is obligated to share that "discovery" with his client within counsel's discretion or upon client's request -- either by showing client or providing copies. Defense counsel may make a reasonable charge for copying.

3. From your description, it sounds like you may want to contact the public defender and-or the public defenders office's supervising attorneys to discuss these issues. An alternative would be to find money enough to hire a good private defense lawyer to replace the public defender. A good private defense lawyer should have a much lighter caseload.