Q: My 25 year old grandson was advised by his LA Atty to sign a guilty plea to several charges including racketeering.
He says he felt pressured by his Legal Aid attorney into signing the plea which included several marijuana charges, a charge of selling heroin and a charge of racketeering. He wants to appeal at least the racketeering charge. Can you tell me what I can do to help him achieve this? He is currently serving out a 30 year sentence (yes, that's right) for which he has to be incarcerated for at least 10 years according to my research. He was sent fairly recently to the Richmond County Correctional Institution. He lived with me for the last 1 1/2 years and I never, ever saw him with extra money to even go to McDonald's. In fact, I made several small loans to him for food at least once a week. We, his mother and I, were not allowed to communicate with my grandson before he signed the plea deal. I live in North Georgia. What can you tell me that I can do to help him? Something's just not right.
A: Because he is an adult, the only person that is legally allowed to speak with him about his case is his attorney. You may have issues that can be raised in a habeas petition, however, these have considerable hurdles to surmount. However, if the facts are as alleged there may be some arguments that can be made. Look for an attorney that specializes in Habeas Petitions. I hope this helps.
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