What should I do if I'm having public defender problems?

You might have a problem with a public defender and that is because they are overworked and underpaid. You get what you pay for in life and you have paid nothing. You can ask for another public defender, retain another lawyer, or write your lawyer politely asking her to be more diligent and do as you have asked. Public defenders do not always do as you ask them for reasons that they do not explain, but it seems easy enough to just watch the video and explain the evidence to you, your options, and advise you on whether to take a plea or not. If you are out of jail you can call her every day until she does what you want her to. If she refuses that is grounds to ask the judge to replace her and you have documentation to prove she ignored your calls and letters so the judge will probably grant the request. You cannot sue the store, your lawyer, the police, or anyone unless you have a malicious prosecution or extreme facts that are not likely present in your case.

If you are not satisfied with your appointed lawyer, hire a lawyer to meet your needs. Your appointed lawyer will handle your case as it needs to be handled, doing what needs to be done as she see fit. You can write a letter to her listing your questions and your interest in seeing the video and request that she call you to schedule an appointment when she is available. There is no law that there must be audio; in fact, there is no law that there must be video in most situations. Civil lawsuit? For what? I do not see one.

When I believe that the search was not legal, I make a Motion to Suppress. If the evidence is thrown out the case can be dismissed. If you have a good reason, you may be able to get another attorney appointed to your case. If not, you will have to hire one. If the police conducted an illegal search and did not find anything illegal, you can file a civil suit against them.

You should talk to the judge in your case about your problems with the attorney.

Hello, I am sorry you are having problems with your Public Defender. I would suggest that you ask again, and perhaps ask if you can be given a copy of the video/audio so you can listen to it yourself. Ultimately, if you feel your P.D. is not giving you proper representation you can ask the court for a Marsden hearing, but unless the P.D. 'refuses' to look at the video I doubt the Marsden will accomplish much other than a suggestion by the Judge that the P.D. 'look at it.' As far as the rest of your question, there is not enough information, and please do not provide more here. Talk to your P.D. about your concerns.

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do, other than to hire private counsel to represent you in this case. Under certain and rare circumstances, you may be able to fire your public defender. The fact that you don't like him or do not feel (s)he is doing a good job for you may not be enough. A judge is more likely to permit you to change public defenders if your current lawyer is somehow violating your right to adequate representation. Some evidence of that could be: (1) Missing appointments or filing deadlines, (2) Not informing you about your case status or hearing dates, (3) Forcing you to enter a plea, or (4) Ignoring important evidence. To change your public defender, you generally need to write a letter to the judge in your case or contact the public defender's office, depending on the rules in your state. Make sure you keep good notes of what you believe to be the biggest problems with your attorney. There's a "chance" a judge will grant your request if you have good reason to change public defenders. But they're unlikely to grant a second request, so make sure you really do need a new lawyer. Before you file any paperwork, make sure that you talk to your current public defender. Sometimes the issue isn't that your attorney isn't doing the work, it's a communication problem. Tell your attorney about what is making you unhappy, and see if something can be done to change it.

Open your wallet and hire a "real" attorney. You get what you pay for pal.