Why hire a private attorney as opposed to using a public defender? There are several reasons that it is important to hire a private attorney to represent you. One of the reasons is that when you hire a private attorney you are retaining that attorney to work for you to defend your case. The public defender’s office is appointed to your case and they are not appointed until after your arraignment day. Many of the opportunities that we use as private counsel to try to defend your case are taken prior to your case reaching arraignment.
So when you have a public defender, you have some of the opportunities to defend your case. For instance, we are able sometimes to take evidence provided to the state attorney’s office and prevent your case from even being filed. That won’t happen with a public defender because you will not receive a public defender until you reach arraignment and then at arraignment the judge will make a determination about whether or not you financially are qualified for a public defender.
Many times people think they might have qualified for a public defender; they wait to arraignment and then discover that they have to obtain private counsel and by then that private counsel is put in a position where he can’t defend your case the way he would have defended it if you had hired him right after your arrest. So what are the important reasons to hire a private attorney? So you can take action on your case today and not wait thirty days or sixty days till your case reaches arraignment.