Q: My girlfriend is in trouble with Crawford and Sebastian County. Need pro Bono help?
She's facing multiple drug charges and failure to appear charge. She has medical issues and only began to get in trouble since this January. I can't find anyone to help. I believe that she was coerced into some things. Her history is that of abuse and neglect. She had a really bad head trauma in September of last year. She's unable to make appropriate decisions at times. I do believe this stems directly from her head injury for her social history with demonstrates otherwise. She struggles with activities of daily living due to severe anxiety and major depressive disorder. I feel that she is falling through the cracks and we can't get much help from the current Public Defense office.
A:
I'll tell you that the Public Defenders who I deal with are excellent at their jobs. No, they do not have a lot of time for hand-holding. They certainly not available for family or boyfriends. Lawyers are not able to do pro bono work for criminal cases because there is the Public Defender's Office. Your girlfriend should tell her lawyers everything that will help her. And she should take their advice. If she has proof of a head injury, she should bring that evidence to her lawyers.
Please note though that if your GF is claiming mental infirmity, she might very well have the charges dismissed; however, she could be in a mental hospital for the rest of her life so be careful with challenging the case based on a mental disease.
I wish the lawyers out here, myself included, could help more people. All lawyers are bound by our rules of ethics to help people each year for 40 hours. In fact, we spend three times that helping people. We do our best but there is just too great a need.
Your GF has an entire team of lawyers dedicated to helping her. Give them a chance.
Thank you for your inquiry. Hope this gives you some help.
Jim
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