Legal Question in Criminal Law in South Carolina

Criminal Defense is far, far more complicated and involved than what the general public understands. Your question basically amounts to two sentences of information and in order to give you quality advise and the necessary understanding, I would need much, much more.

That is not intended to criticize you whatsoever. I'm just trying to point out that these cases can become so serious, and so involved, and so many considerations need to be looked into, its literally impossible to tell you what your basically need to know.

By now I'm sure you and your family have come to the conclusion that he needs a private attorney.

The public defenders are by and large good lawyers; yet they all have 3 or 4 times the number of files they should have. A private attorney on the other hand can get things going immediately, as they are not bogged down hundreds of cases like the public defenders are. They also can communicate with the family, initiate investigations, file motions to compell discovery, and basically move the case as it can and should be moved.

But that brings you back to the original problem that obviously your brother had in the first placel. And that is that a priviate attorney costs money. I won't pretend otherwise. We are expensive. I am exclusively a criminal defense attorney. That is all I do, except an occasional car accident, since they pay well.

The immediately results that your brother needs and deserves will happen if he gets the private attorney. If you like to call I am happy going over it with you. But again, I am very sorry to say that it will cost money to get a private attorney on board. Maybe if the family is able to get together and pool their resources, that can happen. Personally, I like money as much as the next person. But I also hate money. I became a lawyer more for being able to pratice law, then for the money. Unfortunately, attorneys have overhead just like all other businesses. The hard part is that we have far more overhead than what the public realizes. Without money to be able to retain me, I'm not sure how much help I am going to be. But I don't mind getting on the phone and talking.

My office is in Horry County, and I practice state-wide, since I'm a defense attorney. Traveling is routine for me and I do not change extra just because the case is a distance from my office. I limit my practice to criminal defense and I only do that and an occasional Personal Injury case, since they pay well.

So you are welcome to call me. I'll listen and tell you anything you need to know and anything else I can think of that might help. You can also email me, but that usually takes forever to accommplish the same thing that can be done in just a few minutes on the phone.

Robert J. Johnston 843-946-0099 [email protected]