NOTE: All facts and opinions detailed in this blog post come
directly from sworn testimony and court documents.
ATTORNEY ANDREW ARNOLD BREAKS HIS PROMISE
Within days the client met with Mr. Arnold for the first
time and the client immediately raised the issue of the substantial
deficiencies in the state’s probable cause for a warrant to search his home and
later to arrest him. The client believed
that the state had used a flawed investigation to arrest him on the wrong
charges using insufficient evidence. Mr.
Arnold promised the client that he would properly address that issue because a
meaningful investigation of probable cause could lead to a dismissal of the
charges.
In their second meeting in early April Mr. Arnold and the
client discussed the subject of how files were transferred over the internet. The client attempted to explain to Mr. Arnold
the technical complexities involved in the case and how any mistake by the
investigators could have led to the client to being improperly charged. Mr. Arnold admitted he knew nothing about
that process, but it sounded important in determining whether the prosecution
had been forthcoming in their probable cause and he would review it.
DID ATTORNEY ANDREW ARNOLD INTENTIONALLY HARM HIS CLIENT?
Mr. Arnold admitted at that meeting that his wife, Carmela
Cesare, was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Berkeley County but that Mr.
Arnold would not discuss the case with her.
Later developments have shown that he may have broken that promise.
ATTORNEY ANDREW ARNOLD FAILED TO PREPARE FOR TRIAL
Mr. Arnold and the client discussed the probable cause issue
on several other occasions and Mr. Arnold agreed that there might be a valid
issue in that the prosecution dropped many of the original charges and there
were problems with the evidence.
During the several meetings and telephone conversations the
client told Mr. Arnold how the state’s version of events was almost impossible
and instructed Mr. Arnold to retain an expert to be able to testify to that at
trial. Mr. Arnold failed to do so.
Whenever the client spoke with Mr. Arnold he impressed the
client as being uninformed of the relevant facts in the case and unwilling to
proactively investigate them or prepare for trial.
About three weeks before the trial the client spoke with Mr.
Arnold on the telephone concerning his progress in investigating the probable
cause issue. Mr. Arnold limited his
response to one word answers and would not provide a comprehensive or
meaningful explanation of his efforts on the issue.
At that point the almost the entire sum of Mr. Arnold’s
efforts on behalf of the client were to pressure the client to accept a plea
bargain for the wrong charge that could have been dismissed with a proper
investigation of the flaws in the probable cause.
One week later the client met with Mr. Arnold in his
office. Before the meeting the client
presented Mr. Arnold a letter dated the same day addressing the deficiencies of
Mr. Arnold’s representation efforts and instructing him to investigate the
probable cause issue before he began any plea negotiations.
During the meeting the client confronted Mr. Arnold with his
failure to make any meaningful effort to investigate the probable cause issue
despite his promises to the contrary. Mr.
Arnold could not explain why he had chosen to devote the focus of his
representation efforts towards trying to pressure the client to accept a plea
offer without any meaningful or substantive effort to investigate and/or attack
the due process issue that has the potential to have the charges dropped.
ATTORNEY ANDREW ARNOLD ABANDONED HIS CLIENT
Mr. Arnold became very agitated and informed the client he was
withdrawing his representation. Mr. Arnold
claimed there was “a complete breakdown in the attorney client relationship”
because the client refused to plead guilty to the wrong charge that should have
been dismissed if Mr. Arnold would have done his job properly.
Mr. Arnold abandoned the client just two weeks before the
client’s trial and wasted over five months without ever having begun to develop
a defense for the client. During the
hearing in which Mr. Arnold asked the judge to allow him to withdraw THE
PROSECUTOR admitted that Mr. Arnold had made no effort to properly examine or contest
the flawed evidence against the client.
ATTORNEY ANDREW ARNOLD IS ACCUSED BY THE JUDGE OF HARMING THE CLIENT’S RIGHTS
During the same hearing in which Mr. Arnold asked the judge
to allow him to withdraw the judge decreed that Mr. Arnold have had actually
waived the client’s speedy trial rights when Mr. Arnold agreed to the trial
date despite his assurance to the client in open court that Mr. Arnold’s
decision would not do so. Speedy trial
is guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and proper
usage by Mr. Arnold would have required the charges be permanently dismissed
against the client.
Mr. Arnold’s bizarre actions while he was representing the
client have caused many people to believe that Mr. Arnold was working with the
prosecution where his wife Carmela Cesare was an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
for Berkeley County to sell out his client instead of using the facts and evidence
to have the charges dropped.
To learn more about attorney Andrew Arnold’s (of Arnold and
Bailey) reputation as a lawyer visit http://www.martinsburglawyerreview.com/andrew-arnold.html
Andrew Arnold’s address
Andrew Arnold
Arnold and Bailey
208 North
George Street
Charles Town, WV 25414
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