Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

In Ohio, your lawyer needs to follow your wishes as to how to proceed at trial, but also has an ethical duty to provide you with his professional opinion. You should have a talk with him and tell him that you want to go to trial and that if that is going to hinder his representation of you, then he needs to step aside.

But lawyers usually have a very good reason for doing things the way they do them, and this is likely not this lawyer's first rodeo. The legal system makes mistakes, and if your lawyer sees you as a person that the system is about to make a mistake upon, then you will want to listen closely to him.

An in between step might be for you to pay another lawyer for an hour or two of his time wherein you and your lawyer can sit down with the other attorney and each of you can explain your reasoning for wanting to go forward. If the other lawyer says you are crazy to disregard your lawyer's advice, then you might want to know that before you make your final decision. If the other lawyer scratches his head and wonders to your lawyer why he isn't putting the state to its burden of proof, then that may make your present lawyer see things in a different light.