What Someone In Houston, Texas Could Learn From The Ten Co-Defendants In Haiti?
I would think that most people would realize that having one criminal attorney for multiple people accused of a crime would be a bad idea. In fact, when co-defendants attempt to hire me I go to great lengths to dissuade them for doing this because of the potential conflicts that may arise. Perhaps criminal lawyers in other countries do things differently, but a criminal attorney in Houston, Texas would advise against two defendants having the same lawyer much less ten defendants. I am confused why then ten American missionaries that were arrested in Haiti hired only one attorney to represent them. It is to be expected that they have different stories about how they got into their predicament as well as how much they knew about the plans to take the children from Haiti. In fact, there are some in the group that feel that their side of the story is not being told accurately. They finally came to their senses this week and fired their Haitian lawyer. Hopefully, each will find their own legal representation.
The moral of the story is if you find yourself arrested in Houston with someone else get your own Houston criminal attorney. A lot of times a person will offer to split the costs for the attorney, but I would advise to go against this route because the lawyer should be someone you choose voluntarily and only has your interests in mind.
