Should a person use a credit card for his/hers attorney fees?

Question

I know a friend who is facing 2 felony charges. One of the charges could be dropped down to a misdemeanor.He has no PRIORS. Both of the charges are still pending and he is still going back and forth to court because of the request of a "continuoes". Here's the problem. He currently has a poor public defender who is not working as he expected for her to work. She wants him to plea it out and take the jail time, but he wants to avoid jail time as much as possible. He believes the public defender and hire a private attorny. My friend has no credit (which is better than bad credit) and is average income person. He doesn't have the money to pay the attorny fees up front which is well over $5,000. So he decided to apply for credits cards online. My logic for him was I'd rather have a bad credit report than a criminal record. My question to the readers are, should he charge the credits cards knowing he won't be able to pay it back or stick with the public defender?..Please positive feedback.

Answer 1

Most criminal defense attorney want cash upfront before represnting a client. Why? Most folks do not wish to pay after they have beat the rap or are sitting in jail.

Your friend could get credit cards and pay a private attorney but what if your friend still gets convicted? He'll now have XXX dollars to pay back plus sit in jail. There's no guarantee when you take a case to trial.

What your friend needs to do is ask the Public Defender why she believes he should plea out. Even if he doesn't want to plea out she still has an ethical duty to represent your friend competently and fairly at trial. If she does not, that's grounds for an appeal, "ineffective assistance of counsel" claim.

My answer is to talk to your friend's Public Defender and if your friend wants to take it to trial you friend should.

Answer 2

The way cc companies are today, he wont get one, so hes probably better off staying right where he is. The plea bargain is probably his best bet and will contain the least amount of jail time he will get. This is why they say if you cant do the time, dont do the crime. Also there is no guarantee that a private atty will do any better for him and then he will have a debt to pay. Take his chances with what he has, do his time and move on and stay out of trouble. Its not worth the trouble! Good luck

Answer 3

Is the money more important or the freedom? If all fails with paying it back he could always file for banctruptcy later down the line, but a criminal record? Come on. If anyone was in that situation of actually facing jail time they would think the same way as your friend. CYA

Answer 4

Take the jail time and avoid paying on the credit cards. It really depends on how bad your friend wants to stay out of jail.

Answer 5

credit card and then instead of going to jail, get a job and pay it back...felony charges???? If you want to win at the game of life, you have to play by the rules. Start today. It's not too late.

Answer 6

You know? In this case, I would say a definite NO! Before reading the details, I was all ready to say yes, you know, for things like divorces, dwi's and the such, but in this case, I wouldn't trust this guy at all to pay his credit card bill and that, after all, is the key.

Answer 7

sounds good but make sure he states that he had the intintion to pay back the credit card debt and he needs to make a least the first two months payments then they cant get him for credit card abuse or fraud and all hell get is a bad credit score and freedom sounds like a good plan make it happen

Answer 8

heck no!! cuz once u pay off that, ur gonna need to pay the "fees" on the credit cards!!!