?DUI Charge/Public Defender/Plea Bargin Rejected

My son has been charged with a DUI in a small Indiana town. This is not his first offense. He admits he was drunk at the time but was not driving his vehicle. Realizing (too late) that he should not be on the road, he pulled off the road and parked but the car was still running when the local police checked to see why he was parked. He was not able to afford his own attorney and the court appointed a public defender .. a lawyer whose specially is in Real Estate law.

Over the course of several months, my son had difficutly in communication with his public defender. No return calls and no scheduled appointments to discuss the case. But a plea agreement was offered. He agreed to the plea agreement and it was accepted by the judge, a temporary judge. He was to go back to court a month later and the plea agreement enforced... there was to be 6 months jail time. When he arrived for his hearing he discovered (1) his public defender (whom he had been trying to reach for several days with no luck) had moved out of state, (2) the public defender was not in the state that day for the hearing (3) a new public defender was trying to be assigned for that morning's hearing, (4) the regular judge rejected the plea bargin. (5) a new plea bargin had to be done within 2 weeks or a jury trial would be the next step. This was very distressing. In anticipation of being sentenced he had quit his job, sold many of his possessions to raise money for his wife and kids to use the funds for bills while he would be away. His kids had spent the night and that morning crying, expecting not to see him for a long period of time. This was very stressful for his whole family then to be told the plea bargin was rejected and he would have to start over again with only 2 weeks to reach another agreement.

Supposedly the public defender will divide his time between his Indiana cases but also be setting up practice in his new state, Tennessee, for at least several more months. My son has tried to contact his public defender and has been told by his Indiana secretary that his messages have been received by the public defender. He has not heard a word from him and time is running out, there are only 7 more days remaining for the new plea bargin to be done.

I am not a lawyer and do not know the law for something like this. But I am very upset with the way the public defender has neglected to keep in communication with my son on his case and I don't understand if the first plea bargin was accepted by a judge (although a temporary judge), how it could be rejected? If the temporary judge did not have the authority to accept the plea bargin in the first place, why wasn't the case continued?

Unfortunately he still cannot afford to hire his own attorney and it looks to me like he is being railroaded because of it.

Is there any advise on what can be done, what steps can be taken?

Thank you


UPDATE IN CASE

My son finally heard from his MIA public defender. The PD has told him he's probably screwed. This is a new judge, just placed on the bench January this year and she's out to prove a point. She wants him convicted as an habitual offender and serve 8 years. He's had two prior offenses in the last 10 years (both times, as in this case, he pulled over and parked his car).

There is less then 10 days now before a plea bargain has to be agreed on. The PA tried several times to stress to the judge that my son's car was parked and he wasn't stopped for driving. He feels the original plea agreement is sufficient.

Isn't 8 years excessive punishment? Is there anything he can do at this point? Is it possible to ask for a change in judges?

He didn't start drinking until he was in the military and served in the Gulf War for 9 months. He's tried to get help but because of his income he's hasn't had any success. After he pays 200.00 a week in child support there's not much left for counseling or rehab but they don't take that into consideration when he tries to get help as low income, so they say he makes to much to qualify.

Any help is much appreciated. This is so stressful.