Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Ohio

Judicial Misconduct

I have a question. If a magistrate remanded a Defendant to her court and your attorney worked out a ''deal'' with this magistrate and now the terms are not being honored ... what is my recourse. The attorney is now refusing to return my calls and the documentation that the court mailed to my home doesn't match what was agreed to in court. Is there a way that I can file judical misconduct and get my $1500 back from the lawyer? I didn't realize that there was a appeal process and so that time frame has expired. When looking back on the court process (if I am remembering correctly) there was nobody present during the hearing except the magistrate, our attorney, myself and my son. This is a juvenile issue (although my son has since turned 18) My son was put on probation with the agreement that none of the traffic points would be on his record if he successfully completed the probation. We have since received documents from the DMV showing the points and the court clerk states nothing in the court documents shows this agreement. Should my son keep his appointment with the probation officer or would this constitute his ''agreement'' with what was sent to us in writing? Where would I file a complaint against the Judge and the attorney?


Asked on 9/27/04, 9:50 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Cline Office of the Ohio Public Defender

Re: Judicial Misconduct

If the agreement was discussed in open court there should be a record of that discussion. In some courts they use a tape recording system while in others they use a court reporter. The first thing I would suggest that you do is write to the attorney and very politely describe your concern, then ask the attorney to respond to you. It sounds like it was simply a mistake, not anything sinister. If you are concerned that the attorney will ignore your letter, mail it certified mail, return receipt requested, and keep a copy of the letter. That way, if you ever have to prove that you attempted to resolve it with the attorney, you can do that.

I would strongly advise your son to abide by any probation requirements set forth by the Court. Even if there has been an error, he cannot resolve that error by ignoring his responsibilities under probation. Worse, if he fails to complete his probation obligations the Court may issue a warrant for his arrest --- thus making a bad situation worse.

If everything else fails you could hire another attorney to review what happened and to ask the Court to correct the record.

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Answered on 9/28/04, 11:44 am


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