Reviews
Avvo
Chase
20 Jul, 2014
He was court appointed counsel for my minor misdemeanor criminal case and I had a video of 4 troopers who arrested me illegally, and Thompson said so at first. I was driving home to Stowe, Ohio from Youngstown where I'd driven to look at a car I wanted to buy. My girlfriend was with me when a trooper pulled me over or failing to switch lanes while he was behind a truck. I had no criminal record.
I was arrested after I told the trooper I wasn't answering questions beyond those tied to his reason for the stop, and he said an American citizen who expressed knowledge of his rights made him suspicious. The charges were obstruction of official business and failure to obey a lawful order after he asked me to step out of the car so he could search me to see if I was carrying a weapon or committing any crimes. He denied that statement during the suppression hearing until it was played on his own dash cam video in court. My video showed all of the conversations between him, me and my girlfriend, and other troopers he'd called for backup.
Even though he was instructed in writing to submit my video, my statement and my witness' statement as evidence, Thompson didn't and then lied about the reason he didn't. He then prepared a suppression motion filled with inaccuracies, and was emailed the corrections. He still turned in the error filled motion. When the motion was rejected, he called the judge a pro-cop racist.
One motion he lied about, and never shared with me, was 9 inaccurate sentences and contained no case law. That motion was filed a month earlier, and one I never knew he had given the court.
During the suppression hearing even the judge began counting the 8 times he asked the same question. I learned afterwards that in a murder trial where he was prosecutor, that Thompson didn't call witnesses that would have supported the victim. The Youngstown Vindicator headline described his behavior as "bizarre."
When I obtained my case file, I learned that he had inserted a witness request for a trial in it that identified a witness for another client. If you ever do business with him, which would be a mistake, do like I did and keep all your email communications with him. He's extremely non-responsive so you need the email as back up that you reached out to him. Check your case file during the trial, instead of afterwards like I made the mistake of doing, because he'll submit motions without your knowledge or approval.
I have email communications where he claimed he was given time to file an amended suppression motion. When I demanded a copy of it he told me his computer had been stolen. He then sent a 14 page document he claimed was that motion, but 9 pages of it was a woman's tax information. He sent a corrected motion that was one he filed a month earlier. The one he said he was going to file was never prepared, sent to me or approval or submitted to the court.
THIS MAN SHOULD NOT BE AN ATTORNEY AND HE DEFINITELY SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED!
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