We discussed in an earlier blog that we had an attorney offer to meet with us at no cost to review our case going up on appeal. We met with this attorney for an hour or so showing him documents and going over the details of our case. He had rushed us in within less than 24 hours, asking us to bring everything we had.
The meeting started with comments such as "Whether you decide to go with me or someone else..." and "If I represent you then I would need to...." Then all of the sudden towards the end of our meeting after reviewing our documents and discussing the issues he tells us "I can't take your case..." He didn't suggest we don't have a case, on the contrary he felt we had a strong case. However, he couldn't take the case for some undisclosed reason but was committed to helping us locate an attorney who would.
On the way home my husband and I were kind of shaking our heads. "What just happened?" We couldn't figure out why he would rush us in with the intent to represent us, only to suddenly "not be available."
We determined during our meeting that he knew defense counsel involved in our case; but after further investigation, it not only appears that he knows them, but is a shareholder in their law firm.
He recently emailed me on August 12th. The entire email contents read:
"Just wondering whether you found someone to file an appeal for you.
Hope all is well."
After receiving his email I called him and shared, in tears, that we were unable to find an appellate attorney and being foreclosed on September 6th. His response was a lukewarm "You'll be fine." And that was that.
This man professed to be our brother in Christ, and we thought he was reaching out in kindness, offering to help us because of the wrong we had suffered. Without getting into the details; suffice to say our focus began being diverted after our meeting with this individual and it's all beginning to make sense now. He's not the first individual to befriend us only to suddenly fade into the horizon after an information gathering expedition; after which we come to find an uncomfortable link to an individual(s) connected with the defense side of our case.
I decided to see if there were any additional links to others involved with our case and much to my heartbreaking surprise, I discovered that this professing brother in Christ has also been serving on a local Board of Directors for with our Judge since 2005.
Why would he not disclose this to us? Moreover, why would he make a point to state that he was not familiar with the Parker County Judicial system, stating that he had never tried a case in their courts? I guess the fact that he has served for years on a local board with our judge slipped his mind!
(Board of Directors~Listing?)
We never did receive an attorney referral from him for our appeal.
