Ijust got back from my visit and He and I talked about Me going and gathering information on who and how to hire a lawyer...
How to not get wripped off by one,too


Needing major advise on who I might go to that is an expert in parole reviews and cases, Also who might guarrenty results!!
Please any advise is needed here!

I live in Texas,
Thanks, Alison

The best advice I can give is - if you don't want to be ripped off, don't hire someone who guarantees results.

Cen-Tx LYN (?) has offered some advice in this area, but I can't find it right now. Perhaps she'll be along after while.

please help!

Originally posted by joeslilbaby
please help!

No legal representative can ever Guarantee results. The best advise would be with legal aid inmates that can research and find the best facts to produce in writing at any hearing.

they are expensive...and I've never talked to any of them who can guarantee results....it's all a crapshoot with parole attorneys. There is a gentleman near Huntsville, Bill Habern. You may want to call his office....936-594-2123.

Good luck....if you hire one, I would be interested to see how it works for you.

kath

There are only a handful of attorney's statewide that focus only on parole and corrections matters. Some do not go to the unit, some send a paralegal, some do not appear in person before the Board when the file gets there...one of the names that was commonly heard in parole circles was an attorney that within the past few years agreed to a probated suspension of their license to practice law. Another factor is how much they are willing to discuss with you on the phone as you make a decision- it is appalling to see offices that want to charge a prospective client to tell them how much they will potentially be spending.

There is a fairly wide range of fees, but my experience when I worked with the agency and in discussing the issues with a number of attorneys is that any specialized area of law is often going to be one where you get what you pay for...if you don't pay a whole lot, you won't get much of an attorney.

When this subject has come up, I have tried to avoid getting into the discussion of particular names, although I have given opinions to a couple of people that PM'ed me on a particular person they were looking at. I would rather put out the issues that a prospective client ought to be considering before putting out a potentially good-size sum of money (I'm like most people- a high 4-digit or low 5-digit fee is something that I consider a big fee, although I know of some appellate attorneys that charge closer to the 6-digit fee without batting an eye).

Another source of referral would be either the Bar Association or the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Neither can give an outright referral, but I would imagine both could provide names that they were familar with in a specialized area of law.

Originally posted by ckaldor
The best advise would be with legal aid inmates that can research and find the best facts to produce in writing at any hearing.

Not a good idea in Texas given that State law prevents a non-lawyer from representing an offender in any matter before the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

IF I WERE TO DO THIS MYSELF (I AM A WAITRESS) CONVENSING THE STATE OF TEXAS THAT IT IS IN THE BEST INTRIST OF THE STATE TO RELEASE SOMEONE SEEMS A BIT OVERWELMING CONSIDEREING THAT I DO NOT HAVE ANY SCHOOLING IN CRIMINAL LAW-NOR DO I HAVE ANY EARTHLY IDEA ON HOW TO DO THIS...
CAN ANYONE HELP ME TO DO THIS??
I DON'T HAVE $$ TO THROW AROUND-
I CALLED THE OMBUDSMAN'S OFFICE AND MARYLYN INFORMED ME THAT I CAN DO WHAT A LAWYER WOULD- I JUST DON'T HAVE A CLUE HOW???

Alison,

It can be done...heck, I did it. It's a lot of phone calls, letters...getting to the right people. I can't begin to tell you how many phone calls or how much time I spent, tracking things down, talking to people etc. You have to stay on top of things, and talk to people CONSTANTLY.

We sent in support letters initially for parole in absentia (paroling out of county). TDCJ picked him up anyway, and our Round 1 fight was with the San Antonio board. I wrote more letters (copied everyone), and talked to the IPO. The board gave him a serve all before I could request an interview, so I geared up for Round 2. He was moved to Mineral Wells, and I stayed after it. More letters, lots of phone calls, and I got interviews with 2 of his voting members. We never did a parole "packet". I went on my gut, most the time.

Stay near Marilyn or Nancy...they can tell you the status on the file, and where the file is most the time. I was on the phone with Nancy when she said "kath, call Gatesville NOW, the file was just "wanded" in. I called, and 2 days later, I spoke to the board. 2 days after that, we were approved.

You need to have strong supporting evidence (errors in the arrest, in the case etc). You need to let them know you DO NOT CARE what stipulations are imposed, you will work around it. You need to basically guarantee he is no longer a threat to society, and have a plan of action in place to let them know you mean business. You need to be sincere in this, and not just say what you THINK they want to hear.

It's not easy....it's time consuming, and there are going to be days when you feel you have accomplished NOTHING. The only advice I offer is when you feel like you can't do anything else, call someone else. Sometimes, those "gut" instinct calls are the ones that accomplish the most.

I wish you luck.....I will try to help in anyway I can....

kath

Thank you soooooooooooooo much for all the advise, and help.

DING! DING!!
ROUND 2, LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!****

LOL.....ding ding.....

apparently, our ESCATI counter codes have stopped working.....I was afraid that would happen.....time to find a new clock!!

kath

Ok, what is an IPO and how do you get started doing this? I mean, what is the first thing that needs to be done?

ARE YOU IN THE SAME KIND OF SITUATION NOW??

Me? Yeah I am. It's funny cause I had asked Centexlyn about this too. I would not even know how to go about doing this. I'm not that smart either. I would need written instructions, and THEN I could give a killer presentation! It's just getting the whole bit started!

Originally posted by becbabe
Ok, what is an IPO and how do you get started doing this? I mean, what is the first thing that needs to be done?

IPO= Institutional Parole Office and is where the processing of the file basically begins.

Now that we have your time issue corrected, it is till going to be early 2007 before the file moved into that part of the process on Will's case. And, also, now that the time issue was fixed, there is nothing that you need to do with the agency at the moment. You and I have discussed some of the other options available to pursue at a later time, and since they are specific to Will's case, I won't go into them in open forum.

So, all I have to do is wait til 2007? That makes me feel so useless! What if his time moves sooner? Man this sucks! Thanks though!
Becky

Sorry to come in so late o this thread, but being a lawyer myself, here is the most simple advice I can give on hiring a lawyer. Ask questions. Lots of them. If the lawyer can't answer them, then they usually don't know what they are doing. There are exceptions to this, and the lawyer should be able to say " I have not come across that but I will find out." Now, he shouldn't be constantly saying this. You can tell if someone is knowledgeable about a subject. Make sure, through your questions, you are comfortable with how the attorney operates. For instance

Also listen to the attorney. You are hiring the lawyer to be your advocate. Can he/she persuade you. If the attorney cannot be persuasive to you, who is predisposed to wanting to be persuaded, then how can that individual persuade someone else.

Finally, if the attorney makes a guarantee or a promise of a result, walk away immediately. No attorney can guarantee or make a promise about the outcome. I will tell my clients the only thing I can guarantee is you will get my absolute best effort and while a vast majority of the time that is enough, I can’t guarantee an acquittal, or a release on a writ or a successful appeal.

One final word, you will get what you pay for, You can’t pay 3000.00 and expect to get representation on the level of OJ. Also, when someone is charging 3000.00 when everyone else is charging 7500.00, unless there is a good reason for it such as discounting fees because the attorney is starting their own office (and by asking questions you will find this out) then that attorney probably does not enough about what they are doing to be any good. Otherwise they would know the amount of work and time involved and charge appropriately. Hope this helps.

Anyone else out there in this position who could advise us on what to do?

WHAT ABOUT MEDICAL CONDITIONS? My guy has some, that without proper treatment could be life threatning. He told me he was taken off of his medication a week or two ago. Could this help his chances?

Joe wrote me back today and gave me answers to my questions about his past, Health, reasons to put- Will someone here help me figure out how to prepare this imfo. 4 the board???

I do have a packett guidline that someone was nice enough to give me....

Joe wrote me back today and gave me answers to my questions about his past, Health, reasons to put- Will someone here help me figure out how to prepare this imfo. 4 the board???

I do have a packett guidline that someone was nice enough to give me....

Where do you get the packet guideline from?

Someone on PTO SENT me it over the net.

Not a good idea in Texas given that State law prevents a non-lawyer from representing an offender in any matter before the Board of Pardons and Paroles.- IS this really true???

I have a parole packet and it gives outlines to request a meeting with the voteing parole board officials-?? Please someone help!!

Hey, i don't see why we couldn't do it ourselves since it would mean more coming from a family member. Hell, it's worth a try, right? I hope it's legal.
Becky

2 BIG THINGS THAT HAVE ME CONCERNED!!


His status will not change until January 17th 2004, and he will not have a certificate of completion for his "Changes IN THE FUTURE" COURSE IN HIS HANDS OR IN THE COMPUTER UNTIL THE 6TH OF Feb.2004- If the board actually reviews his case befor those dates will they have that information, and will they see his low risk status score will be effected by the certificate being given to him on this date?- if he has it he scores a 5 on the point system- if he doesn't he scores a 6 which puts him at medium risk-

put in your letter to the board that he is enrolled in these classes and what his expected completion dates are. If you get an interview, reiterate this information, in case they don't have it when they review him. I requested and GOT a phone interview with his first voting member. They aren't required to call you, but they will if they can.

kath

What was the phone interview like? how long was it, and what did you ask, or vise-versa?

will they tell m an exact day he will be released if granted parole?

Maybe I can help a little. There is a woman in the Ft. Worth area named Debbie Gardner who puts together parole packages. I have spoken with her on several occasions and she seems to know the ropes well enough yet she is honest enough to say she can't guarantee anything. I liked that part because about the only person who can absolutely guarantee a parole or pardon is the governor. Ms. Gardner's husband was in prison and she learned what she is doing by getting him paroled. She is on the internet at the "parole connection" or something like that. Her phone number is 817-431 1208. She said her success rate is about 70%. I didn't use her because I learned that she would be writing letters and knew what the board wanted to hear. Well, I know how to write letters and I have written several on my wife's behalf that are pretty convincing and persuasive. Also, I have connections so I called upon them --- our county sheriff, a key county commissioner, a prominent pastor, etc. Not everyone has such contacts but you can curry them if you work at it. Don't whine about what your parollee did in the past. Focus on what they will be doing in the future. Offer compelling reasons why their continued incarceration is not warranted and why they can successfully reenter society. Ms. Gardner charges around $600 to put together a package. You can speak with her and decide whether you want to go that route or try an attorney. I noticed at a lawyer in San Antonio who specializes in parole also said he doesn't handle any kind of murder case. That's another reason I'm doing this by myself. Good luck

Is this for his parole hearing? Im in Fla. , all I know is the lawyer cost $250.00 for the hearing, a man in the main probation office found him- I spoke with him & he said the lawyer was there just to be a mouthpiece. I think what really helped my husband was his bosses showing up , saying he still had a job after 7 months and what an asset he is. They also asked for drug testing- not good (since this is not going down as a drug related crime)but if it gets him out-ok. Also some of his family was there. But the lawyer was cagey at side stepping issues, so it did help. Also a letter I wrote was placed in his permanent file for review by the board during mitigation-very unusual I think. So letters help.
When he gets out our next issue is to have an error which affects his probation stipulations wiped off his adult record. It was when it was 16- girlfriends Father brought charges,to this day he is not alllowed to be around children because of this major oversight. So maybe a lawyer can fix it. I have written a woman on the revocations board about this, to find out who has the power to correct it.

I forgot to say, this was on a VOP charge.

Hey littlewing, is your husband in Texas or Florida also?

My wife was in TDCJ-ID for a long time. I faced this exact same issue. The questions you posed are good and honest. So are the answers you've been given for at least the most part.

First of all, you probably do not need an attorney. CenTXLyn really gave an excellent answer. There is an attorney that posts what you need to do your own parole kit. Perhaps it is worth you visiting the site and examining that information.

For whatever it is worth, I hired this attorney even when he advised me it was not necessary. Furthermore, I appreciated his (and his staff's) very direct answers to EVERY inquiry I had. Most of the answers I heard were not what I wanted to hear, thus I knew he was telling the truth.

The decision to hire or not hire an attorney is entirely up to you. It is not required and a lot of people do not and achieve their desired parole results and many do and do not get their desired results.

My wife hired one who was supposed to be really good and he did NOTHING for her and she was set off. This attorney is in San Antonio (the first one was actually IN Gatesville where her unit was) and he made a visit before I even knew he went up. While he does NOT guarantee results (do NOT trust ANYBODY who guarantees results when the results are based on another person's decision), he does guarantee his fee until released on parole. If a set off happens, you do not have to pay any additional fees unless you insist on another in person interview.

This is not exactly a recommendation, but if I had to do it all over again, I would have hired him again. He has told me directly that his involvement had little if anything to do with the results, but the fact that I and my wife and her family all felt better just having someone on our side representing her made it all worth it.

The site you want is http://www.lawyertexasparole.com. He also has a Yahoo! group and it has incredible amounts of information on it.

I doubt this attorney is the only one who does this, but he does have great information. It won't cost you anything to look over his information and his office will send it to you for free if you just call.

Good luck to you and I do understand because I know how painful the parole process can be.

Jim

Some carefully chosen words of advice:
You should check references and obtain some basic information, including disciplinary history, for an attorney, before contracting with them for services.
One source you can check is www.texasbar.com.

Good advice from biscuitmom. However, I would just be plain careful about any attorney, regardless of what you read from the bar reports. For example, an attorney may go years without problems and have bad staff who cause problems. Even though the attorney may not have actually done wrong, they are responsible for the actions of their staff.

On the other hand, an attorney may have practiced for years and never having had charges filed against them, yet they do not do what they promise.

In the case of my wife, I carefully reviewed the situation and both scenarios were accurate. I relied heaviliy on evidence and reports from inside and outside the bar association.

Since we are specifically talking about Texas, I suggest further inquiry from TIFA (www.tifa.org) and you will find them very useful for specifically Texas issues.

The choice is entirely yours. Good luck in whatever you decide.

I had a very positive experience with Mr. Hampel. Others have reported the same and also some have reported very negative experiences. The same is with the first attorney that was used. My wife's experience with him was terrible. He never showed up and only did a short 5 minute phone call and never presented anything that is known to the Board of Pardons and Paroles. However, he comes highly recommended by others.

One thing is no doubt, this is a very difficult decision to make. Thankfully, there are not many who specialize in parole issues. At least the "pool" of specialists is relatively small.

Jim

There are only a handful of attorney's statewide that focus only on parole and corrections matters. Some do not go to the unit, some send a paralegal, some do not appear in person before the Board when the file gets there...one of the names that was commonly heard in parole circles was an attorney that within the past few years agreed to a probated suspension of their license to practice law. Another factor is how much they are willing to discuss with you on the phone as you make a decision- it is appalling to see offices that want to charge a prospective client to tell them how much they will potentially be spending.

There is a fairly wide range of fees, but my experience when I worked with the agency and in discussing the issues with a number of attorneys is that any specialized area of law is often going to be one where you get what you pay for...if you don't pay a whole lot, you won't get much of an attorney.

When this subject has come up, I have tried to avoid getting into the discussion of particular names, although I have given opinions to a couple of people that PM'ed me on a particular person they were looking at. I would rather put out the issues that a prospective client ought to be considering before putting out a potentially good-size sum of money (I'm like most people- a high 4-digit or low 5-digit fee is something that I consider a big fee, although I know of some appellate attorneys that charge closer to the 6-digit fee without batting an eye).

Another source of referral would be either the Bar Association or the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Neither can give an outright referral, but I would imagine both could provide names that they were familar with in a specialized area of law.
My question is; Is it worth it to hire a parole attorney? We've spent sooooo much already, there is not much left. I would like your opinion.
Thanks

My question is; Is it worth it to hire a parole attorney? We've spent sooooo much already, there is not much left. I would like your opinion.
Thanks

I'm going to suggest that there are some cases where it is beneficial, and others where it may or may not make much of a difference. Regardless of the case, if you decide to retain someone, make sure you get someone competent in the area of parole law. Anyone making a decision should call and speak with more than one office, and also have the family or friend that is incarcerated ask around the unit to see who they have heard good things about...let's face it, word spreads quickly on the ones that don't go to the unit and do face-to-face interviews or who do not answer questions.

To TheParents, I have tried to stay out of discussions in the public forums about who I feel comfortable with and who you should avoid like the plague. I will discuss those issues via PM if you have particular questions...