This is kind of last minute...  I just found out my lawyer & I are not going to continue working together on my case,
which involved the use of non-deadly force, based on the personal protection of myself from bodily injury from another person.
I need legal help fast guys. Please let me know where to turn. I have never needed anything like this in my life, nor thought that I would ever have to for that matter.
But my lawyer is letting his personal opinions get in the way of me receiving fair treatment regarding this issue.

Moderators: Can this be tacked for now or somthing like that?

Thanks in advance!
M4-CQBR

[email protected]

geez, somebody help this guy out. the back of my NRA card *had* the hotline for their lawyers, but it's all worn off now...

chack their website. that's probably your best bet.

good luck!

The card does not have the lawyers on it any longer I just checkked mine

but it does have the number for them on it  877/NRA-2000

You might try contacting Alan Gura with Gura and Possessky.  They may be able to look up some pro-gun lawyers in your area.

Gura & Possessky

Details?

Quoted: Details?

Please don't start this type of log jam here. Please.
The exact details are not needing to be discussed in a public forum.
I just need help. The docket call for trial is set for next Friday, January 19th.
The ADA offered a plea bargain, (why they call it a bargain I'll never know)
I need to accept it within the next two days and then set up a court date for it, scheduling it on January 16 or 17, and if I don't accept it,
I'll need a new lawyer so I can get a continuance, as Jury call will potentially be on January 19th.

Basic details: I had to draw my concealed weapon, (in which case I have had a license for 10 years) --
I had to protect myself from a person who threatened to run me down with an SUV and then tried to do so.
I feel that this is all the info that is needed here.
I would discuss this further with anyone who thinks they can help via telephone.

Thanks very much,
M4-CQBR

You are not going to get any large organization to give you legal help in such short notice.  They need to review the case, do some research, and then decide if they will get involved.

That said here is the NRA's informaiton.

NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund gets numerous requests for assistance. Therefore, the Fund has a procedure for determining whether to fund a court case. The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund has guidelines for submission of cases for the trustees' discretionary review. Cases presenting compelling unsettled or new issues of law are of special interest to the Fund. The Trustees normally meet three times a year: in the late spring, fall, and winter. A request for litigation funding should be submitted to the secretary not later than 30 days prior to the meeting in which the request is to be considered. Late submissions will be considered only upon emergency.

Applications for financial support must be submitted by an attorney.  Requests should include, at a minimum, the following information:

Legal or constitutional issue to be resolved and how it would have a widespread favorable impact;


Summary of the facts;


Background of the litigants or other parties;


Summary of past and projected administrative and legal proceedings;


Projected costs of litigation for the different stages of the case and an explanation of the basis for such projected costs, including hourly attorney fees and projected number of hours;


Other sources of funding and amounts received and requested;


Probability of obtaining a favorable result and basis for conclusion; and


Probability of obtaining an award of attorney's fees and costs should this applicant prevail in the litigation.


The Fund shall not return submitted material. Therefore, originals should not be sent. Also, privileged attorney-client materials should not be sent.

A recipient of funding shall reimburse the Fund, to the extent of fund involvement, if costs or attorney's fees are awarded. Furthermore, a recipient of funding agrees to have his or her likeness and case used for fund raising by the Fund as a condition for receiving financial support.

Submit Your Request to:
                                      NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund
                                      11250 Waples Mill Road
                                      Fairfax, Va.  22030

Contact us at:  
                     Email: [email protected]
                     Phone: 703-267-1250
                     Fax: 703-267-3985

For others to help you: Where do you live? City?

bumped

Quoted: For others to help you: Where do you live? City?

Cumberland County, Maine.

Second Amendment Foundation has a referal(sp?) service for guys in a bind. I would give them a call:

10. I need a referral to an attorney who can help me maintain my rights; can SAF help?

Since it is impossible for any organization to fund every legal challenge it is asked to support, the Foundation maintains an attorney referral service with a network of attorneys who specialize in firearms cases. This makes it possible for people who seek legal counsel to have access to attorneys in their state who are able and willing to handle firearms-related cases.
Voice: 425-454-7012
Toll Free: 800-426-4302

Also, I think that you would be well served with any recommended criminal defense type. Don't get hung up on the fact that someone has to like firearms to know how to get you out of hot water.

Good luck, friend!

Quoted: Also, I think that you would be well served with any recommended criminal defense type. Don't get hung up on the fact that someone has to like firearms to know how to get you out of hot water.

What he said.  You need to find a local guy who's a good criminal defense lawyer, he's probably going to have a lot more pull with the DA than some gunslinger "expert" you bring in from out of town at the last minute.

No pun intended.

a friendly bump to keep this on the first page.

Hope all goes well.

take care,

Aaron

Good advice about a local criminal type lawyer who will get more respect than an out of town Hitman lawyer.  Especially in Maine!  Talk to anyone who you know locally and who may have had some experience with the system THAT WAS POSITIVE.

Thanks guys, I did get a couple of attorneys names & numbers this afternoon from SAF & a friend.
I'm not sure how this will pan out, but the one lawyer I actually got to talk with on the phone was not from the SAF, or NRA.
He was a personal recommendation from a friend, & apparently a very good criminal lawyer here in Maine.
After discussing my case with him, he thought that I have a winner. He also thought my current attorney has not done quite a few things that he should have done, and that I am taking it in arse because of my current attorney's opinion. (non liking of weapons)

I am so scared. Comments are flying around between my lawyer like, " This is the best deal you are gonna get, and if you do go to trial, you will be hung."  
And the ADA said a couple things, "If M4-CQBR wants to take this to trial he will be crushed."  " Take the plea, because M4-CQBR will lose"

I feel like I am being scared into accepting a plea on something I didn't do.
The original charges are trumped up charges based on the lies of the other two persons involved, who have now admitted that they lied on the police report & before a Grand Jury. But the Gun thing, is all anyone is looking at, and even though I am the one who called the police to tell them what happened and to get them to the scene, I am the one being charged. Not the "Victims"

I am so sick that I can't sleep & haven't for well over a week now.  This incident happened June 2nd 2006, and the ADA wouldn't discuss pre trial negotiations with my lawyer or anything regarding hearing my side of the story. She just called him Monday (two days ago) to give him the plea offer, and now I have to decide before tomorrow (suppossed to be today) if I am going to accept the plea. And just because my lawyer thinks that "M4-CQBR, "you carrying a gun around rubs everyone the wrong way but you"  He says, "Imagine what a jury is going to think if I think it and the ADA thinks it." That is just frigging BS, because it doesn't matter what they think. I was licensed. Period End. No criminal record. I value my right to own firearms so much, and I would never do anything to harm anyone unless I thought they were going to harm me. Now because the ADA wasted all this time, I have less than a week to prepare for trial, and feel backed into a corner because I thought my lawyer had my back. But now that he got this deal tossed to him by the ADA, he is assuming I wanted to take it, and is pissed at me because I wanted to talk more about it before deciding. He says now that he doesn't think he can work with me because I am not listening to him. What a load of crap huh?  I listened, but I didn't jump on the deal because I am still going to loose my rights to own weapons.

WTF do I do?  I am so pissed and lost with how this system works. I just can't believe this is happening to me.  
I couldn't even believe it the day it happened. I thought the so called "victim" would be arrested, NOT ME!

M4-CQBR

M4,

The system does not work - the end. Don't sweat it now. Get with the new lawyer who thinks you have a winner. He will be able to adequately prepare, or get a postponement(sp?). Also, try not to pay the other guy - he seems like an ass and he really hasn't helped you it seems, at least from what little I know.

One thing I do know from experience, however,  is that there are a whole lot of lazy lawyers out there who will take deal after deal. Avoid them. They work for you, not the other way around. It doesn't take a whole lot of brains to be a lawyer, so don't be fooled by the first guy you meet thinking he is gtg - this has really hurt a person I know.

Also, I'm glad SAF helped out a bit, but this other new guy sounds good if he says you have a winner.  Good luck to you, friend!

   

the 1st person to call 911 is the "victim"

Quoted: the 1st person to call 911 is the "victim"

OP said he was the one that called 911.

I can't offer any real advise here, but I'd suggest you don't admit to anything you haven't done.

Quoted: and now I have to decide before tomorrow (suppossed to be today) if I am going to accept the plea.

Since you have a new lawyer who thinks he can win the case you'd be crazy to accept a plea bargain.  

BTT Good luck friend...

Quoted: BTT Good luck friend...

fuck the plea, get a jury trial

Quoted: ....I had to protect myself from a person who threatened to run me down with an SUV and then tried to do so... M4-CQBR

Did you shoot them or jump out of the way?

Quoted: BTT Good luck friend...

Quoted: Quoted: ....I had to protect myself from a person who threatened to run me down with an SUV and then tried to do so... M4-CQBR Did you shoot them or jump out of the way?

I didn't have time to move any which way, so I drew my weapon & told them to stay put until the police arrived.
Completely non-deadly force, with the right to detain them based on Maine Crminal Statutes on; a warrantless arrest by a private person. When another car entered the road, (a witness)
I lowered the pistol to the right of my leg, pointing it down to the ground, and asked that the other car call the police because my phone couldn't get a signal. Then the "victims" took off to the right, seeing for sure that I no longer had my eyes on them, and they got away. Then my phone got a signal, and I told State Police Dispatch exactly what had happened, and stayed on the phone with them until the officers arrived.

M4-CQBR  

Good luck.

It sounds like the 1st lawyer is in bed with the ADA.  The vague pronouncement that you'll go down if you don't accept the plea bargains doesn't sound much like justice to me, it sounds like a guy being railroaded in a tag team match.

I think you can get a better deal.

M4 - glad to hear you found another attorney.  Just a question - was the first attorney "your" attorney prior to the incident, or did you have to scramble to find one afterward?

For the rest of you, the Shooters Bar has a list of pro-RKBA attorney who specialize in wide range of law practice.  If you have to hire an attorney, better to get one who won't turn around and give the money he makes on your business to some anti-gun politician or organization.

If you were in the right, you should not just roll over.

Unfortunately sounds like you have to spend money on a lawyer to get a trial. But people in Maine have common sense and won't send up the river for protcting yourself. Upstate everyone carries but in the South you have gunphobia from the state of Mass.
Good Luck

Quoted: If you were in the right, you should not just roll over.

No kidding.  Lawyers, like police officers or MD's, exercise their own discretion.  I wouldn't trust the advice of an attorney who has a negative preconception of private gun ownership.  A lawyer who has reservations despite the legality of your position as a gun owner & CPL holder is not trustworthy, IMO.  From a purely professional standpoint, if possession & CCW are legal, that should be suffice - he should leave his personal opinions/issues at the door.  Anything can be brandished as a weapon - automobiles are certainly included.  I don't know the particulars of yourt case, & I don't know you.  That said, assuming your story is true, your assailant brandished a deadly weapon.  That is undeniable.  You said that you were unable to get out of harms way.  What does the law allow in such circumstances.  It would seem to me that the ADA thinks you should take it up the ass.  Is that what the law dictates?

Look, I'm not an atorney, & in fact, I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn.  however, I did get to sit as a juror on a criminal case against a guy who was being charged w/ harassment & battery.  The guy had a prior record, though it was relatively minor.  Without dragging the case details out, when it was all done, there wasn't a member of the jury who was willing to find the defendant guilty.  The charge was completely bogus, & the "evidence" wasn't.  In fact, in this case, one of the prosecution's witnesses actually was favorable to the defense.  None of us on the jury could honestly figure out why in the hell the county wasted the time & money on it.  It was a completely dead-head decision on the part of the DA to go forward w/ it.  We found the guy innocent.  I didn't think such a thing was possible, but the county managed to pull it off - made itself look like (even more of) a circuis-bogus in my mind than I'd already considered it to be.  I didn't think my opinion of gov't could get much lower, but goddamn, they managed to etch another notch lower in my continuum & drop it down to that level.  Amazing.

If I ever do decide to pursue a law degree w/ a criminal law specialty, I'd definitely take the criminal defense side of the coin.  Prosecutors are just...well...somthing.  Take Mark Nifong, for example...

Get my point?

I know you're going through a strenuous time, but consider that the DA's commonly use intimidation tactics to swing opinions &/or win plea agreements (Take Mark Nifong, for example...).  Don't let them back you into a corner.  You know the situation you were in at the time, & you know why you made the judgement call you did.  Assuming you're on the up (again, no offense), get an attorney who's actually on your side, & take it to the real criminals: The guy who assaulted you & the DA.  Remember, an automobile can be a deadly weapon.  That's what you said you were faced with.  Don't let them make you feel like you did something wrong or illegal if you didn't.

In sum: take heart, stand firm, & hire a better attorney.

As it turns out the SAF refferred me to a pro SA lawyer here in Maine.
He called this morning and said, " I do not have time to look at your case because I am straight out this month, and even though if I were to represent you, provided you got the continuance for switching lawyers & your trial would be put off for a few months, I still don't have the time.  He should be removed from the SAF list of lawyers. After some asking around today, I find out, he hasn't tried a crminal case in court in Maine for over a year.  Gary Libby, you suck!

Bump to top..

Best luck from "downeast"

FN

IM Massad Ayoob he is on here now!

Holy smokes M4, I just got stumbled on this thread.  Good luck with everything!  A lot of time has passed obviously, but I hope it all works/worked out!

Tag for updates

ETA:

M4-CQBR
Last Login Date ::
2/23/2007 6:39:25 PM EST

Thats encouraging at least

another bump from a fellow mainer.

FWIW, i just moved out of cumberland county...

Quoted: Thanks guys, I did get a couple of attorneys names & numbers this afternoon from SAF & a friend. I'm not sure how this will pan out, but the one lawyer I actually got to talk with on the phone was not from the SAF, or NRA. He was a personal recommendation from a friend, & apparently a very good criminal lawyer here in Maine. After discussing my case with him, he thought that I have a winner. He also thought my current attorney has not done quite a few things that he should have done, and that I am taking it in arse because of my current attorney's opinion. (non liking of weapons) I am so scared. Comments are flying around between my lawyer like, " This is the best deal you are gonna get, and if you do go to trial, you will be hung."   And the ADA said a couple things, "If M4-CQBR wants to take this to trial he will be crushed."  " Take the plea, because M4-CQBR will lose" I feel like I am being scared into accepting a plea on something I didn't do. The original charges are trumped up charges based on the lies of the other two persons involved, who have now admitted that they lied on the police report & before a Grand Jury. But the Gun thing, is all anyone is looking at, and even though I am the one who called the police to tell them what happened and to get them to the scene, I am the one being charged. Not the "Victims" I am so sick that I can't sleep & haven't for well over a week now.  This incident happened June 2nd 2006, and the ADA wouldn't discuss pre trial negotiations with my lawyer or anything regarding hearing my side of the story. She just called him Monday (two days ago) to give him the plea offer, and now I have to decide before tomorrow (suppossed to be today) if I am going to accept the plea. And just because my lawyer thinks that "M4-CQBR, "you carrying a gun around rubs everyone the wrong way but you"  He says, "Imagine what a jury is going to think if I think it and the ADA thinks it." That is just frigging BS, because it doesn't matter what they think. I was licensed. Period End. No criminal record. I value my right to own firearms so much, and I would never do anything to harm anyone unless I thought they were going to harm me. Now because the ADA wasted all this time, I have less than a week to prepare for trial, and feel backed into a corner because I thought my lawyer had my back. But now that he got this deal tossed to him by the ADA, he is assuming I wanted to take it, and is pissed at me because I wanted to talk more about it before deciding. He says now that he doesn't think he can work with me because I am not listening to him. What a load of crap huh?  I listened, but I didn't jump on the deal because I am still going to loose my rights to own weapons. WTF do I do?  I am so pissed and lost with how this system works. I just can't believe this is happening to me.   I couldn't even believe it the day it happened. I thought the so called "victim" would be arrested, NOT ME! M4-CQBR

GO WITH THE LAWYER THAT IS WILLING TO FIGHT  You can get a continuance to change councel   Do not let a shitbag golf buddy of the ADA con you into a plea for something you did not do

Good luck the new lawyer.  I hope this all works its way out for you.

Anybody know what happened?

how this ended??

fred

wow.

tagged.