Working Within Your Budget

What happens if you have an indigent client and need assistance in obtaining funding for investigations or mitigation work?

What are your options if you have a limited budget?

  • First and foremost, ANY mitigation is better than NO mitigation.
  • On capital cases, what is your court willing to spend?
  • In some areas, the Public Defender or other indigent defense office makes the decisions.
  • Do not think about hourly charges, think about what the total budget is and we can then discuss options.
  • There are things we can do to hold down costs.
  • We MUST do an in-person intake interview with the defendant!
  • Is the defendant incarcerated or can they travel to us at their expense?
  • We need about 4 to 6 hours face to face with no one listening.
  • If they are incarcerated, this may need to be spread over two visits.
  • After that, we can do follow up work by phone if needed.
  • Many records are available by mail or computer.
  • We NEVER waste your money.  If we travel, we travel cheap:  inexpensive flights, car rentals, meals and hotels.
  • We have completed non-capital cases in the $2000 to $3000 range, depending upon whether we have to travel.
  • Did you take a retainer for a criminal trial and then get a plea offer?  Use the remainder of your retainer to get the best sentence possible.  Success is good for your business.
  • Consultations are always free.  It NEVER hurts to talk to us about what we can do for your client.

One attorney in Tennessee told us his judge put an unbelievably low budget of $7000 for mitigation on a capital murder case and “to hold down costs” insisted on hiring someone local.  The defense attorney hired a psychologist out of Nashville who blew the whole $7000 visiting with the defendant and then told the attorney he had NO mitigating factors.  If he had hired us we could have flown a mitigator to Tennessee for a week, obtained needed records, interviewed witnesses and completed our follow up work by phone and at least given the defense a mitigation report with some fighting chance of success.

Never, never pass us up because you think the money is not there to pay for our services.  We need to talk because we are dedicated to giving the defendant a chance for a fair sentence.