Legal Question in Criminal Law in Wisconsin

Attorney Slow to Respond, Adjournments of Criminal Case

I cannot advise you in this matter, particularly since you already have an attorney. However, as a general matter, one has the right to request a new attorney if dissatisfied; so long as your judge approves the substitution--generally not a problem unless the request comes on the eve of a trial. Successful criminal attorneys will always have more than one client, and the best attorneys will be extremely busy. Like your current attorney, the next one will also balance the needs of other clients against yours. Therefore, the new attorney may be just as busy and slow to respond as the old one. I'm sure that you could find a lawyer with only few clients, but this may not be the person you really want defending you. Additionally, rushing a criminal trial nearly always benefits the prosecution more than the defense. This is true because the prosecution has the burden of proof; the passage of time always makes this more difficult as memories fade, witnesses lose interest and investigating officers change employment. If they can't prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt to the unanimous satisfaction of 12 jurors, the defense wins. Also, this week's "big case" in any DA's office may become next month's minor annoyance as more serious crimes occur which demand the DA's attention. This can lead to steady improvement in the plea bargains which are offered to the defense over time, since the DA also needs to balance time expenditures among the needs of thousands of other cases. The defense also needs more time to investigate and gather information than the prosecution (whose information was already gathered for them by the investigating agency before the charges were even filed). For this reason alone, adjournments aid the defense by helping to "even the playing field" with the prosecution (although it will never be truly even, since the government's resources always exceed those of the defendant). Finally, there is always the risk that you could lose your trial--even the innocent are routinely convicted in our badly overworked system, so why rush it? A verdict from a judge or jury, in the final analysis, never amounts to more than an educated guess as to guilt of innocence. Over 80% of jury trials are won by the government.