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If you are accused of a crime, you will want to hire your own lawyer if you at all possibly can.  I know it’s a big expense, but it may well be worth it — sometimes it can mean the difference between a light sentence and a harsh one, or even being acquitted versus being found guilty!

Here are three good reasons to hire your own lawyer if you are ever accused of a crime.

• Hiring your own lawyer gives you a choice.  If you can’t afford your own lawyer, you will be appointed a public defender.  This is a lawyer who works for the city, rather than for you, and defends a large number of people who can’t afford their own lawyer.  You won’t get a choice in who the court appoints to represent you, and even if you have a good reason for wanting someone else, you may have a difficult time getting the court to see your side of it.
• Public defenders are overworked.  The biggest problem with being represented by a public defender is that they are usually WAY overworked.  They have a gazillion cases assigned to them by the courts, and the result is that they usually have too many cases to pay any one the attention they should.  On the other hand, if you hire your own St. Petersburg criminal lawyer, you can rest assured knowing that you are paying your lawyer well to focus more of their time and attention on your case.
• Public defenders have the court’s interests in mind.  A public defender’s goal is to get you to plea bargain as quickly as possible, so that they can get your case off their desk and focus on getting the next person to plea bargain as well.  They don’t really have your interests in mind — in fact, by overworking them, the courts ensure that they will essentially make decisions that benefit the courts, not you.  Therefore if you need a Clearwater DUI attorney, you will get the best representation for YOU if you hire your own.

Our system is meant to make sure that people with no money still get decent representation.  Certainly we make sure people get representation, but decent?  I’m not sure that is always the case.  That’s why it’s so important to hire your own lawyer!

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