I Love my Lawyer

Really now, how often do you hear anyone say such a thing even about a paid attorney...let alone an appointed one? But I really do like my new attorney.

His name is Tony Wilson. He was appointed to me after my last court appearance when my then attorney was unable to show up due to lack of notification. I asked my former attorney to withdraw from the case because this was an ongoing pissing match with the courts that was never going to be resolved. He was a great attorney but I decided to get someone local through an appointment so I can get this ordeal over with.

And isn't it odd how things turn out?

For the last two years I have seen my attorney in court here in Alexander City. And for two solid years I thought he was a police officer. He looks like a police officer, from the haircut, to the way his cell phone hangs like a gun from his belt, to the razor sharp crease in his pants that looks as if it could slice your finger. And he is good friends with all of the people I KNEW were cops in the courtroom. Bacon Baby Bacon! There is simply no mistaking it. It never, in my wildest dreams, occured to me that this guy was a lawyer. Never. I had him pegged for a narcotics detective.

Then, on my most recent court appearance, he walked up to the mildly retarded black girl, who was sitting behind me, and began talking about her defense. I was plumb flabbergasted, as my mama used to say.

About two weeks later my former attorney's motion to withdraw from the case was granted and I got a notice in the mail that a new attorney had been appointed. It was none other than Mr. Bacon.

I had very negative and apprehensive feelings at first. I called my closest advisor and told him that I thought my new attorney was a cop. 99.9% of my experience with police officers having been of the extremely negative variety I considered asking for a new appointment. My friend and adviosr, who works in the criminal justice system, advised me to send an email to my new lawyer and just be myself completely. The email should include the fact that I was at the time a candidate for governor and that the case is very high-profile, involves lots of media and is just not your average pot smoker case. Then wait and see what happens before I make a decision about keeping him as my attorney.

So, I looked my new attorney up in the phone book, found an email address listed and fired off an email detailing who I am and what I do and what I expect him to do. I sent him the affidavit, the trial transcript and the letter from the Alabama Canon of Judicial Ethics stating that they had taken action against Judge Kim Taylor. I also told him that I thought he had probably been a cop at some point in the very recent past. Here is an excerpt from that email.

Now that you have stated your name as 'Tony Wilson' I have placed you. You are the one who looks exactly like a police officer. Just for curiousity sake do you have a background in law enforcement prior to graduating from Jones School of Law or are my spider senses off on that one?

He was NOT happy. He wrote me back explaining that he is the lawyer and I am the client. PERIOD! He didn't mention anything about being a former cop or about the fact that I had researched where he went to law school.

'Uh-Oh' I thought....'this isn't going to work out.' I called my advisor and his initial reaction was the same as mine but then he said, "Go in and sit with him for a face to face meeting before you make a decision. Things may be different than you think."

It turns out that was excellent advice. I set an appointment for Oct. 23 but had to change it to Oct. 25. The 25th was when the major national and international media storm hit over the Boobs campaign merchandise. On the day I first met my attorney I had already done an early morning interview with Fox & Friends and had more scheduled with NBC 13, ABC 3340 and Keith Olbermann. I walked into my new attorneys office on cloud 9 with a big smile and the first words out of my mouth were, "I hit national and international media yesterday and I am booked with major media wall to wall until the election....if you'd like to be a star I can make that happen."

My Lawyer: "Hi Ms. Nall, glad you could make it. I don't really want to be a star. I'm just a small town lawyer who wants to do a good job for people and make enough money to take care of my family. I don't like the media and never seek it out for my cases. I have to live and work in this small town and being too good or getting too much attention could make my life very hard. I know you are big on the media and publicity and that is fine as long as you let me know what is going on. I appreciate the offer of stardom though."

We started out with me just sort of probing him on how he planned to fight the case. I asked him "What do you think about what you have read of my case so far?" and then just went silent and let him talk.

In the 7 days since he had been appointed I had sent him all of my files he had read every last bit of it and printed out 18 cases that were similar in how the warrant was obtained. He had already started form a plan of attack to get the charges thrown out. I was very impressed. He said everything that I have needed to hear my attorney say since the beginning of all this.

We then went on to talk about him and his background. "Ms. Nall I was a police officer for many years and I have to tell you that I have an affinity for them."

Me: "Yeah I was pretty sure you were a cop. There is simply no mistaking it."

My lawyer: "My eyes having been opened since coming into this line of work. I used to think that if a person was indicted there must be a reason for their involvment with the law and they were probably guilty of whatever they were charged. NOW, I have seen first hand that it is VERY easy for an innocent person to find themselves incarcerated because they just don't have the alibi or evidence to prove their innocense...and this is exactly 'bass ackwards' of the way the law is supposed to work. What happened to innocent until PROVED guilty!"

Me: "I think your being a former police officer will be very benificial to this case. You know all of the dirty tricks on both sides."

The rest of our conversation covered the criminal injustice system as a whole, his family, my family and the current media storm I was involved in. We talked about the new voluntary sentencing guidelines and I told him I had worked on that bill. He even took the time to pull out the worksheets and show me how to fill them out. What was suppossed to be a half hour meeting turned into an hour an a half meeting and I left feeling like I had known my attorney all my life. It was a wonderful thing!

He told me he reads my blog and that he had read the day before where I posted that I was coming to see him. He said "please post nice things about me on your website."
I had planned to post about him and this meeting within a couple of days but was not able to get to it and it sort of got laid to the side along without about 10 other articles I owe readers, but have yet to write.

Then yesterday I got a wonderful little note in the mail from Tony letting me know that he has not forgotten me and telling me about his new line of attack and what he has planned once we get in court. I was shocked to get anything in the mail from an attorney that wasn't a bill. I spent around $8,000 on my first lawyer who seemed to charge me every time my name popped into his head....yet he never did a damn thing for my case for all that money and sued me when I refused to pay him more. And here I have an attorney who is appointed, which means he is working for free, and has done more in a couple of months on my case than any of the lawyers I have had over the last four years. And not just menial stuff either. He has actually taken the time to read the case file and formulate a plan of attack. WOW!

I have to say the contents of the letter sounded very good to me and I wondered why my other attorneys, who have been practicing law much longer than Mr. Wilson, hadn't thought of it or tried to use it before.

Anyway, I wanted to post this here for a number of reasons. I want to let Tony publicly know that thus far I am most impressed with his service to me. I appreciate it far more than words can ever accurately convey. It restores my faith somewhat in the criminal justice system that there are still good people who care about their clients in the system. Not many, but a few, and that is better than nothing. I feel very fortunate to have Mr. Wilson appointed as my attorney and I am most pleased that I didn't ask for a new one just because I thought this one was a cop...which he is/was.

I also want my readers and supporters in Alabama to know about Tony in case they ever have a need to hire him. He hasn't gotten my charges dismissed yet and may not in the end, but I do know that he will do everything in his power to make that happen and that his work ethic has nothing to do with money. What more could you ask for in a lawyer?

So, if you live in Alabama and find yourself in need of an attorney who cares about the client please give Tony Wilson a call at 256-329-3100.

Tony, if you are reading this....THANK YOU for the note you sent yesterday. It made my day.

Loretta Nall