Charlottesville, VA asked in Criminal Law for Virginia

Q: What if you never been offered a motion for discovery and charges go back 3yrs ago, all they have is video what can I do

I've been charged with dist of a drug 4 counts from a period of 2yrs and that is almost 3yrs ago now and no motion for discovery has been offered and never was informed of how, who where what caused me these charges, then was charged with 3 they make mistake 2 mins after seeing magistrate they take me back and say there's another charge and only evidence they have is crappy video no witnesses, and I have no prior and my wife died in car wreck right before this charges started so I started taking drugs to try not to feel anything and sold just enough to support my habit and don't remember anything from the past 3yrs up till recently when I stopped living that life, I just need to know what to do lawyer they appointed never returns my calls and can't get in touch so I feel I'm not getting treated correctly nor being given any rights I'm privileged to as American and honestly none of this makes any since nor feels right to me what should I do because I'm lost and don't want to bedonewrong

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: Sounds like what you probably need to do is hire your own attorney. Unfortunately, not because they aren't good attorneys, but because of the workload that is placed on some court appointed attorneys, you may not be able to receive the attention you need to have all of your questions answered. Hiring your own lawyer can alleviate some of those concerns and fears. Your lawyer, court appointed or retained, should file a motion for discovery with the courts and Commonwealth. If your case is in lower court, also known as general district court/gdc, you are only entitled to receive certain parts of the evidence at that level. Your lawyer can file another motion when/if your case moves on to higher court, Circuit Court/CC. Every Commonwealth office is different about what they may give your lawyer at the GDC level so you may not see much evidence before going in for your preliminary hearing. Other than hiring your own lawyer, I would keep reaching out to your court appointed counsel and hopefully schedule a meeting so you can discuss your options because drugs charges are serious crimes. Good luck!

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