Q: If a lawyer admitted to the state bar but never to federal court represented you, is your conviction valid?
I hired a former district attorney to represent me in a federal criminal matter. He did not disclose to me that he was not admitted to practice in federal court. In reviewing my file for appeal I found a notice from the Government to the Court stating that he was not admitted to practice. Neither he nor the court remedy this while he represented me. He failed to take numerous courses of action that a federal practitioner would have known were necessary, including that I was a diagnosed Schizophrenic with bi-polar disorder and under the influence of multiple drug treatments at the time of the alleged crime and the conviction. While I maintained my innocence at all times, he insisted and coerced me into entering into a plea agreement which limited my appeal rights and opened me to restitution for the actions of a co-defendant without disclosing either. Is this agreement valid?
A: Yes.
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