My husband recently attempted to get his court documents from the county court where he was sentenced in 2001, and they wrote him back and said he'd have to get them from the attorney that represented him. He then wrote to his attorney to ask for his court doc's (his attorney was court appointed as the co-defendant was represented by the public defenders office). Anyway, the attorney wrote him back and said he'd pulled his files and "vaguely" remembered the case, and he wanted to know why he was asking for them. The atty told my husband that IF he agreed with why he wanted them, he'd send them. Otherwise, he wouldn't. Can an attorney do this, even after the case is long closed??? If the courts say get them from atty, and atty refuses to send them, how the heck does one go about getting copies of these documents while incarcerated?

wow...I can't see how an attorney can question whether he should provide them, I went through the same thing with my son, the court said they didn't have them any more (from 89) and the Police Dept. didn't have the report, but the public defenders office sent someone to search their archived storage and found it and sent it right off to him. I bet gryphon can give some advice...

In CA the attorney file actually belongs to the client (although items related to victim and witness contact information can never be provided to the client).
I bet that the ex-cleint misinterepreted the question that was being asked.
It is very normal for the lawyer to ask why the material is needed. That's because, especially in a big case, the lawyer will want to know if everything needs to be shipped or if only a portion is really being requested.
Once the lawyer passes the file on, it is gone. If something goes away or it becomes important to say what was or wasn't done, the answers to those questions may be compromised. Possible writ issues can be lost. (Some lawyers will keep a copy of teh file, but that can be tough to do if it was a big case. Some of my old cases live in dozens of storage boxes.) That's why it is usually best to send files to other lawyers rather than the client.
However, a client keeping the file means that in time the lawyer won't be sending the file to the shredder. Although some keep them forever, there are no requirements that this be the case. Also, items stored for a long time tend to disappear.
If your son needs court file information, not everything will be in the lawyer's file. The lawyer might have been saying maybe he'd be willing to go get your son court copies, and maybe he wouldn't depending on why he was asking. If teh ex-client was asking ofr a favor, it wouldn't be out of the question to ask why the client wanted the information. (Some folks just like paper in the interest of having "everything", rather than actually needing it for some purpose.)

Here is what was asked of the attorney:
I would like to get copies of my court case and the court clerk's office said to request them from my attorney. I am indigent and cannot pay to have copies made. I am requesting you to please send me copies of the plea bargain and sentencing agreements for Case#xxx, (date) and also any information on the restitution order (how the amount was arrived at, what the co-defendents share is, etc).

Response from Attorney:
I pulled your records from my storage, and took a quick look to refresh my memory. It is not clear from your letter if you are serving out a term from this case from 2000-2001, or something else. If you are serving out a term for this, I am not sure why you want the records. (Well geez, it was a 20 year sentence handed down in 2001... So of course!!!)

The time for appeal ended 60 days after sentence. Since the case was resolved by plea, rather than trial, there is not much to appeal, anyway. I am not aware of any grounds for writ relief- such as violations of your constitutional rights, an illegal sentence or similar problems.

Restitution was required to be ordered, and each person accused must be ordered to pay the full amount. I don't recall how the figure was reached in your case, ($59,000!!!) but based on the property involved, it seems reasonable. You do have a right to determination of how much you can afford to pay (NOT $59,000! He's friggin indigent!), but normally some payments would be set up after you make parole, based on income. Once parole expires, the victims would be responsible for pursuing any balance remaining. (I thought Victim Witness handled this?).

You should also be aware that there is not a "complete transcript" of your case. I have a transcript of the preliminary hearing testimony, and a transcript of your 1990 Sacramento case that was charged as a strike. I do not believe a transcript would have been prepared of anything else. Even the parts that a court reporter took down would not be transcribed unless an appeal had been filed. The rest of the stuff I have is police reports and information regarding the burglary investigation.

Before sending your documents, I would like to have a better idea of how you plan to make use of them. After reading the comments above, if you still want what I have, please drop me a note. I will turn the material over to you or an attorney, as you wish. Sincerely, xxx

So...can't he just say he wants them for his records? Does he really have to tell him why he wants them???

I think that you are reading bad stuff into this where none was intended.
The client can still ask for the file, teh lawyer says so, but the lawyer is trying to figure out what the client is looking for. It sounds like the client perhaps wants things that don't exist in the lawyer's file.
(I wouldn't know what "copy of my court case" means and I'd probably ask for clarification. It very well could be a request for transcripts that have never been transcribed or recieved by the lawyer.)
The lawyer is checking off the various reasons that a client might want such records, because there is additional information that could be given if it is a writ or an appeal. If there's something in teh court file that teh lawyer dioesn't have, maybe the lawyer can help retrieve it if he knows what to look for.
If this is about restitution, the defendant who hasn't been placed on probation has limited rights., so that dialogue was started (just in case).
In short, I think this letter was sent because the lawyer was puzzled and unsure about what was being requested.

Here is what was asked of the attorney:
I would like to get copies of my court case and the court clerk's office said to request them from my attorney. I am indigent and cannot pay to have copies made. I am requesting you to please send me copies of the plea bargain and sentencing agreements for Case#xxx, (date) and also any information on the restitution order (how the amount was arrived at, what the co-defendents share is, etc).

Response from Attorney:
I pulled your records from my storage, and took a quick look to refresh my memory. It is not clear from your letter if you are serving out a term from this case from 2000-2001, or something else. If you are serving out a term for this, I am not sure why you want the records. (Well geez, it was a 20 year sentence handed down in 2001... So of course!!!)

The time for appeal ended 60 days after sentence. Since the case was resolved by plea, rather than trial, there is not much to appeal, anyway. I am not aware of any grounds for writ relief- such as violations of your constitutional rights, an illegal sentence or similar problems.

Restitution was required to be ordered, and each person accused must be ordered to pay the full amount. I don't recall how the figure was reached in your case, ($59,000!!!) but based on the property involved, it seems reasonable. You do have a right to determination of how much you can afford to pay (NOT $59,000! He's friggin indigent!), but normally some payments would be set up after you make parole, based on income. Once parole expires, the victims would be responsible for pursuing any balance remaining. (I thought Victim Witness handled this?).

You should also be aware that there is not a "complete transcript" of your case. I have a transcript of the preliminary hearing testimony, and a transcript of your 1990 Sacramento case that was charged as a strike. I do not believe a transcript would have been prepared of anything else. Even the parts that a court reporter took down would not be transcribed unless an appeal had been filed. The rest of the stuff I have is police reports and information regarding the burglary investigation.

Before sending your documents, I would like to have a better idea of how you plan to make use of them. After reading the comments above, if you still want what I have, please drop me a note. I will turn the material over to you or an attorney, as you wish. Sincerely, xxx

So...can't he just say he wants them for his records? Does he really have to tell him why he wants them???