criminal-law arizona discovery
Public defenders not getting discovery evidence in sufficient time, is this Court Misconduct?
<p><a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/30726/does-a-judge-receiving-information-from-a-provider-need-to-give-it-to-both-prose">In my legal situation described here</a>, I called the public defender several times ahead of the first pretrial meeting requesting to meet with him and let him know the truth, the broader case (the person I sent some strong texts to endangered my life horribly and multiple times, immense loss in my life). The public defender declined to meet several times and told me he only get's the discovery evidence a day or two in advance.  He was already assigned to me for a month. </p>

<p>I had met with the prosecutor myself, before a public defender was assigned, trying to tell him the truth, but he refused to hear, even to take a 50 page document where I described all the harm this woman had done not only to me but to 5 other men (she's a sociopath and member of a cult, horribly deceiving people).  You'd think he'd at least take it to use it against me. He said I have to pursue those criminal and civil issues separately from this case.   THE SALIENT POINT FOR THIS QUESTION IS HE HAD THE DISCOVERY 1-2 MONTHS AHEAD OF TIME, NOTHING GOING TO THE PUBLIC DEFENDER.</p>

<p>It turns out my public defender only got the discovery evidence the morning of the 1st pretrial, my court meeting at 1:30pm. And when I met with him at pre-trial, 1:30pm, he immediately intimidated me twice on first meeting -- with the discovery in his hand, he starting by saying "these texts are despicable", and then to my reply "you have no idea what this woman did", and he replying "still, these texts are despicable."  At that point I consciously or unconsciously realized this man would not help me, and "folded" and accepted one of the charges (no contests) -- charges very similar almost the same -- it appears prosecutors like to give you 2 charges so they can get you to accept one, and bypass the longer trial/judicial system.</p>

<p>The public defender says he regularly only gets discovery a day or two in advance, and in my case as I stated, only the morning of.  Is this court misconduct?</p>

<p>Wondering how these public defenders are paid/incentivized, I asked the court multiples times to tell me how they pay their public defenders, and they refused to reply/comment. But it seems very "fishy" to me, like the prosecutor(s) have a racquet going with the public defenders -- this is a large court, the Phoenix Municipal Court. </p>

<p>The public defender has 3 terrible reviews, is a debt collection attorney primarily, and I think he uses the discovery information "just fine", to knock the legs out from under those he is supposed to defend. </p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The public defender says he regularly only gets discovery a day or two
  in advance, and in my case as I stated, only the morning of. Is this
  court misconduct?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>It is a serious breach of substantive criminal law (it is called a <em>Brady</em> violation) not to turn over discovery prior to a plea or trial, and it is also an ethical violation not to do so.</p>

<p>Failure to turn it over until a day or two before then, when it could have been made much sooner, is another question. The public defender could have insisted on a continuance, but that would have left open the possibility that the prosecutor would have withdrawn the prosecutor's offer.</p>

<p>Nothing that the public defender did appears to be misconduct.</p>

<p>The prosecutor is forbidden from communicating directly with you once the public defender is assigned as a matter of legal ethics. He isn't ignoring you because he is a jerk (maybe he or she also was a jerk, but this particular act of ignoring you doesn't reflect that).</p>

<p>The public defenders office probably could act collectively, or the ACLU or  a similar entity might consider bringing a class action, to push for more than a day or two of advanced delivery of discovery from the prosecutors and might be able to convince a judge to change the prevailing custom. But, typically, public defenders are overworked as they are and wouldn't have much time in advance to look at the materials even if they were received sooner, so that is not a hill that they choose to die upon.</p>

<p>Public defenders routinely lack time to meet with their clients and time to really explain things properly. For what it is worth, some studies (I will update with a citations if I have time, but don't have it at hand) have shown that in terms of substantive conviction and sentencing outcome, that public defenders do no worse than much more expensive private criminal defense counsel (whom you probably couldn't have afforded anyway), although private criminal defense counsel usually has much more time to discuss the case with you leading to greater "customer satisfaction." Of course, even that is only "on average". Your mileage may vary.</p>

<p>All of this, however, is really just side commentary. The fact that you, (admittedly) under the perhaps high pressure advice of your public defender, agreed to a plea bargain that you weren't entirely comfortable with from the prosecutor's office, in and of itself isn't improper. Your conviction in all likelihood would not be set aside on that basis, even if you collaterally attacked the plea bargain in a post-trial motion or habeas corpus action. </p>

<p>The judge almost certainly had you formally accept the plea after an advisement or had the advisement waived based upon your public defender's representation and consent. This makes the plea binding and extremely difficult to overturn. It is for all practical intents and purposes final and irreversible.</p>

<p>Given the kinds of cases that are brought in municipal court, it would not make sense to challenge the convictions on such mushy grounds, even if you could. It often takes many years for such challenges to run their course and 99% of the time they lose. If you were facing decades in prison or a death penalty on the charges, it might make sense to try, but you aren't.</p>
