bigpick
NES Member
That right there is funny.
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Denied FID renewal
- Thread starter XavierHaverhill
- Start date
namedpipes
NES Member
Horse... water...
I have some news for you, and you may not like it. They aren't going to side with you if you go in there yourself. Not about the FID card, not about the gun going to the buyer. We can't make you do anything, but why come for advice if you are not going to listen? There are few things in life where you absolutely have to pay and get a professional, this is one of them.
namedpipes
NES Member
QFTMFT
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This is not what one would call a good idea.
Intelligence does not mean you are equipped to go into a court and represent yourself, unless you have concluded you would rather lose the case than pay the legal fee. This is why it can make sense to represent yourself when fighting a non-criminal traffic citation.
Besides numerous procedural issues, there are aspects like research of case law (Will you be getting a Lexis/Nexus account for your research?) and do you even know if you are able to submit a brief for this first hearing? If you do, do you feel your intelligence qualifies you to properly construct the table of authorities or structure a legal argument based on specifics of statutory and case law? Are you cognizant as to the rulings and outcomes of previous appeals decisions from similar cases?
As a secondary matter, the court will look upon a pro-se appellant differently than one represented by counsel. The reaction will be something like "The court can play it a bit loose with the law here, this guy is not an attorney and will not know the difference".
Do you know how to raise a point when the judge is going against you in such a manner that it will be documented and available for use as the basis of an appeal? You don't get an appeal just because you don't like the outcome (there are some exceptions, like death penalty cases in some states) - you need a flaw in the process.
The attorney you retain for the appeal will need to review the transcript from your initial hearing at his/her usual hourly rate, then charge extra to fill in the gaps you left open or try to recover from your errors. Some attorneys may not even be interested in the legal equivalent of being asked to finish chewing someone else's gum.
Yeah, he just doesn't get it. He doesn't realize that going to court pro se is like an average Joe getting into the ring with a Golden Gloves winner -- you're going to lose. More importantly, he doesn't realize that when he does lose, he may very well eliminate his ability to appeal.
It is cheaper in the long run to pony up the money to a good attorney from the get-go.
How so?
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You need grounds for an appeal.
Grounds can include things like errors on the part of the judge (improperly admitting or excluding evidence); new evidence that becomes available (pretty high bar on this one); ineffective assistance of counsel (errors beyond what a normal, fallible, attorney would make); improper jury instructions; prosecution misconduct like withholding exculpatory evidence; etc.
Note that NOT include in the above list is "didn't like to verdict and wants to take another shot it". We had a bit of that with the de-novo system of automatic entitlement to a jury trial if the defendant did not like the outcome of a bench trial, however, that was ended quite a few years ago in order to lessen the courts burden; get more convictions; and increase the ability of the state to make even the innocent cop a plea.
A good attorney knows how to set the grounds for an appeal, and may even do things that don't seem relevant to the current trial or hearing only to get something (s)he can use as the basis for an appeal and refresh of the retainer. Even not objecting to an error at the time it happens can lower one's chances of being able to "sell" it to the court as the basis for an appeal.
And if you technically match your opponent, the judges are going to get pissed you are from outside the system and award your opponent the win.
Umm, we are talking about an administrative hearing to determine whether there is evidence to find him unsuitable to be issued an FID, not a criminal trial. Or any type of trial actually. Not a single one of those things apply. There isn't anything he can do at this hearing that should prevent a denial appeal.
namedpipes
NES Member
Sadly, there also is nothing he can say or do to reverse the denial. It will eventually wind up in court.
sacksjacked
NES Member
My local PD chief confirms this as well. He can deny an application or renewal on suitability. Get some competent representation and good luck with the process!!!
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Quite likely true, which is one of the reasons I would never presume my self qualified to go pro-se.
