My husband needs HELP!!

Hello, and let me first say that I appreciate any advice that may be given to me. In May 2008 my husband was arrested for a number of reasons. First, I'm going to be completely honest in saying that my husband was selling cocaine. He was going to deliver a gram of cocaine, and the person he was to deliver it to was a confidential informant. He wasn't aware of this because he had sold cocaine to him atleast 2 other times. When they pulled us over, they immediately had guns in our faces, and we were told to exit the vehicle. There was a 9mm handgun in the back pocket of the passenger seat that my father had left there for me to take home because my husband was working 3rd shift and I had a new baby. Let me move on....a canine unit was called to the scene and searched our vehicle, without any luck. The narcotic officers arrested my husband and let me and my baby go on home. I was driving the vehicle too! They strip searched him after book in and ended up using the tazer on him numerous times because he would not open his mouth, because this is where he had put the cocaine. Their treatment of him landed him in the ICU unit on a ventilator for 2.5 days. On his affidavit, they charged him with dealing in cocaine, over 3 gram, possesion of cocaine, over 3 grams, illegal possesion of a handgun by a convicted felon, and resisting law enforcement. We hired an attorney, but I feel like he isn't representing my husband the way he should be. My husband has never seen one piece of paperwork from his case file, and in the time that he has been incarcerated, the lawyer has only visited him 2 times. He continually avoids me, and doesn't do what I ask of him. Ok, he was arrested May 30, 2008 and the state did not send off for labs until December 2008, and our sttorney didn't receive the report from the forensics lab until June 2009. This report states that he only had 1.09 grams of cocaine, and they are still charging him with the original charges. Shouldn't these charges be lowered?? And why are they not producing a new affidavit. Do we have any grounds for dismissal because he has been denied copies of his case file, and mis-representation by our attorney? How does he go about firing the attorney that we have if he never gets to see him? Oh, he is in the Clark County Jail, in Jeffersonville, Indiana.....PLEASE GIVE ME SOME ADVICE!! Thank You.

I cannot make a judgment about whether the lawyer is or is not doing a good job. I can say that legal representation cannot work when the personal relationship between the lawyer and the client breaks down so that trust in the attorney has been destroyed.

If your husband feels that way - and he is the client, not you - and if the attorney is privately hired, the solution is for your husband to hire another attorney. This would increase the expense, but the charges against your husband are very serious and his future is at stake.

If the attorney was appointed by the court, your husband has less freedom of action. If there is a public defender's office on the case, and the attorney who is representing your husband reports to a senior attorney, take the concerns to the senior attorney and ask if representation can be changed. If that option is not available, I suggest a conference with the attorney where the concerns that he is not doing an adequate job are discussed, confirmed in writing. In such a conference your husband and you, if you attend, should try to be as matter of fact as possible and avoid anger or other emotions. I realize that will be difficult. Although it is not pleasant to contemplate, your husband can ask the attorney directly if someone else can be appointed in his place.

I cannot hazard a guess about dismissal of the charges. It depends on too many facts and laws that may be specific to your state.

I respect your concern and efforts to help your husband. Ultimately, he will have to be the one to take action. Although this is difficult to do if he is still incarcerated, it is possible to do that. Again, the difficulty is greater if the attorney has been appointed, rather than hired privately, but the difficulties are not insurmountable.